“(1) The Crown Estate Act 1961 is amended as follows.

(2) After section 2 (4) (reports and accounts), insert—

‘(4A) In their accounts, the Commissioners must separately report the capital and income for the activities of the Crown Estate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.’”—

This new clause requires the separate reporting within the annual accounts of the Crown Estate of capital and revenue for the activities of the Crown Estate in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Brought up, and read the First time.

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 8—Publication of lease fees—

“In section 2 of the Crown Estate Act 1961 (reports and accounts), after subsection (4) insert—

‘(4A) In their accounts the Commissioners must publish details of all individual lease agreements with public bodies in—

(a) Wales,

(b) England, and

(c) Northern Ireland.

(4B) The information provided under subsection (4A) must include the value and name of the agreement.’”.

This new clause requires the Crown Estate to publish, in its annual accounts, a list of all lease agreements it has with public bodies in Wales, England and Northern Ireland including each lease’s name and valuation.

New clause 9—Publication of separate reports for England, Wales and Northern Ireland—

“In section 2(1) of the Crown Estate Act 1961, at end insert—

‘(1A) In addition to the report under subsection (1), the Commissioners shall produce a report on the performance of their functions each year in each of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

(1B) The Commissioners shall lay—

(a) a copy of the report in relation to England before both Houses of Parliament,

(b) a copy of the report in relation to Wales before Senedd Cymru, and

(c) a copy of the report in relation to Northern Ireland before the Northern Ireland Assembly.’”.

The new clause would require that the Crown Estate Commissioners report separately for each country and for the devolved legislatures to have the report laid before them.

I note that since 2021 the net revenue profit and asset value data for Wales has not been published by the Crown Estate. The Crown Estate says that the reason for this is that:

“While in the past, we have produced illustrative figures for Wales, we have since shifted our focus to a more holistic approach to assessing value and increasing our investment, and we realise that such figures are not a fair reflection of value. The previous Wales numbers we published have not included a cost allocation.”

In an answer from September 2024 to my written question asking about the merits of producing regular disaggregated assets and revenue data for Wales, the Government said:

“To achieve efficiency in its operations, the Crown Estate runs many of its functions at a whole enterprise level. As a result, separate financial statements for Wales would not reflect the fact that expenditure is incurred for the benefit of the whole portfolio, and it is not possible to disaggregate net revenue profit attributable to Wales.”

I also note that the Government accepted an amendment to the Bill in the House of Lords to include national commissioners for England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the board of the Crown Estate. The amendment also grants Welsh Ministers and the Executive Office in Northern Ireland the right to be consulted about the Welsh and Northern Irish appointments. Therefore, can the Government outline how these national commissioners will be able to advise on the affairs of each respective nation if there is no process by which the Crown Estate can measure and delineate the profits and costs incurred separately in England, Wales and Northern Ireland?

New clause 7 would address this gap by requiring annual reporting of both asset value and revenue across all nations under the Crown Estate, and by doing so, it would require the Crown Estate to develop a way to measure asset value and revenue in a consistent manner. I hope the Government will accept this amendment to strengthen the ability of national commissioners to fulfil their intended role to advise and act in the interests of the nations they represent on the Crown Estate board.

I turn to new clause 8. Under the current arrangements, many public bodies, such as local authorities, pay lease fees to the Crown Estate simply to lease the land in their own area. However, details of these are not routinely published. In response to my written question in October 2024, the Government noted that,

“Publishing details of those fees would risk prejudicing the commercial interests of both The Crown Estate and the local authorities involved.”

However, local authorities are able and willing to provide this information through freedom of information requests. These FOIs have revealed that in 2023 local authorities in Wales paid fees amounting to well over £300,000 a year. At a time when council budgets are under enormous pressure, how can these fees be justified? This is public money that vital council services such as housing, education and social care are being deprived of.

We should be having a debate on the merits of these fees. This has to start with total transparency and a full account of what is being charged and where. That is why I have tabled new clause 8, which requires the Crown Estate to publish in its annual accounts a list of all lease agreements it has with public bodies in Wales, England and Northern Ireland, including each lease’s name and valuation. I ask the Government to support my new clause for the sake of transparency and to agree that, where public money is being spent, the public should be able to see where this money is going.

New clause 9 is similar to new clause 8. It would require that the Crown Estate commissioners report separately for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and that the devolved legislatures have these reports laid before them. The Crown Estate already produces highlights reports for Wales and Northern Ireland. This amendment would place this type of reporting on a statutory footing by ensuring that these reports are made available to both the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly, and would allow for greater transparency and engagement between the Crown Estate and the devolved legislatures. Diolch.

New clause 7, tabled by the hon. Member for Ynys Môn, would require the Crown Estate to disaggregate reporting in its accounts to show capital and revenue figures for the activities of the Crown Estate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. At present, the Crown Estate’s operations are not divided into business units by nation. It would therefore not be straightforward to disaggregate reporting in that way. It would be a complex task, requiring a series of highly subjective judgments to be taken. Although it is possible to identify gross revenues from each nation, reporting them without any representation of the costs associated would be entirely misleading. However, the Crown Estate does publish broader information relating to its activities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as part of its annual report and accounts. The Government’s view is that it remains appropriate for the Crown Estate to continue its reporting on a whole-business basis. I hope that that explanation is helpful and encourages the hon. Member to withdraw her new clause.

New clause 8 seeks to require the Crown Estate to publish a list of all individual lease agreements with public bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including the name and value of each agreement. As I set out in earlier debates, the Crown Estate is an independent organisation that competes in the commercial markets for profit. Although I understand that the sentiment behind the amendment is one of transparency, it would not be appropriate to require the Crown Estate to make public specific details relating to all lease agreements with public bodies, including agreement values, as this, by definition, would include commercially sensitive information.

The publication of commercially sensitive information could disadvantage the Crown Estate and its lessees, undermining competitive positions and potentially affecting negotiations with future tenants. This would be an additional requirement on the Crown Estate and not one that its competitors face. I remind the Committee that the intention of the Bill is to modernise the Crown Estate to ensure that it can compete more effectively, thereby generating maximum returns for the public purse. For that reason, it is important that the Bill does not confer additional obligations on the Crown Estate that could undermine its ability to compete in the market. I hope the hon. Member will agree and feel able to withdraw the new clause.

New clause 9 would require the publication of separate reports for each of the nations that the Crown Estate operates within on the performance of their functions. The reports would then be laid before Parliament and the devolved Assemblies respectively. At present, the Crown Estate operates as an independent and unified commercial entity, engaging in a variety of business activities across Wales, England and Northern Ireland. To achieve efficiency in its operations, the Crown Estate runs many of its functions at a whole-enterprise level.

As the Crown Estate’s operations are not divided into business units by nation, attempting to disaggregate performance in each nation is a complex task. The division of the Crown Estate’s performance by nation would inevitably require a high degree of subjective judgment that would likely be misleading. It is therefore the Government’s view that it remains appropriate that the Crown Estate continues to report on a whole-business basis, supplementing its annual report with a Wales review that highlights its activities in Wales. On that basis, I hope the hon. Member feels able to withdraw the new clause.

This is a leadership discussion—it is about the leadership we are asking the Government to show in giving Wales the fairness it deserves. We are asking for clarity around public money. I am a bit concerned that there should be a commercially sensitive discussion around public money, which is meant to be transparent. We can get it through freedom of information requests, so it should be easy to collate that information so that the people of Wales and across the United Kingdom can see how their local authorities are spending their money on the Crown Estate and where that is spent afterwards.

In addition, I am unclear about the role of the commissioners. The information that we are asking for in these new clauses would strengthen the role of the commissioners and give them the ability to fulfil their role for the benefit of those regions whose concerns they are there to voice. I will press this matter to a vote.

Question put, That the clause be read a Second time.

The Committee divided: Ayes 2, Noes 9.

Question accordingly negatived.