The next item will be the statement by the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery on the legislative programme. I call on the Counsel General to make that statement—Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. As Counsel General and Minister for Delivery, it is a great pleasure today to deliver the Government’s annual legislative statement and set out the final year of our legislative programme. I’d like to begin by reflecting on some of the significant reforms that we have taken forward through our legislative agenda over the last 12 months. I'm very proud that we continue to make Laws here that will deliver positive and progressive change for the people of Wales.

In March 2025, the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 received Royal Assent. This is a landmark piece of legislation that will eliminate private profit from the care of looked-after children as part of our programme to transform children’s services. We are committed to ensuring effective, high-quality and sustainable health and social care to deliver better outcomes.

The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024, which will remove barriers to democratic engagement and create a system of electoral administration fit for the twenty-first century, received Royal Assent in September 2024. In the same month, as part of our work to reform non-domestic rates and council tax, Royal Assent was given to the Local Government Finance (Wales) Act 2024. The Senedd is also considering several hugely important Bills that have been introduced since the last legislative statement.

The First Minister has been clear that connecting communities and delivering a better bus network is a top priority for this Government, and to that end the bus Bill was introduced before the Easter recess. This will create a new system to reverse the deregulation of the sector that has existed since the 1980s, and enable public bodies to work together to plan and deliver the local bus network people need in Wales.

The Senedd will consider the general principles of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill later today and I commend this important piece of legislation to Members. The Bill will give greater security to people living in the Shadow of disused tips and protect critical infrastructure.

The Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill, which will give local authorities powers to introduce a visitor levy, is currently at Stage 2. The levy will enable local authorities to raise revenue, encouraging a sustainable tourism approach, helping local areas to thrive and visitors to enjoy high-quality amenities. Through making a small contribution, visitors can support the destinations they enjoy.

We are also legislating to preserve and strengthen the language of our nation, through our Welsh language and education Bill, which the Senedd will consider at Stage 3 next week. This reflects our ambition that by 2025 every pupil in Wales will become a confident Welsh Speaker by the time they leave school and places a responsibility on the entire education system to work towards that goal.

The Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill is the second Bill in our programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. These statute law repeal Bills have typically been a periodic feature in UK Parliament legislation and are a real sign of our maturing legislature. 

Often, it is our primary legislative programme that captures the headlines, but this is underpinned by a significant programme of subordinate legislation. This includes legislation to ensure that our Acts, including the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Act 2024 and the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024, have the intended effect, as well as legislation like the Food (Promotion and Presentation) (Wales) Regulations 2025, which will have a significant impact on the health of our nation for years to come.

Llywydd, we are a Government focused on delivery, and we will maintain the pace at which we introduce legislation as we bring forward the final Bills in our year 4 programme before summer recess.

We will introduce a Bill to transform our homelessness system, so it is accessible and person centred, enabling those who are homeless to obtain long-term housing quickly, increase their own self-sufficiency, and stay housed.

We will also bring forward a building safety Bill, which will fundamentally reform the building safety regime in Wales and address fire safety issues. 

Llywydd, tackling the climate and nature emergency has been a priority of this Government and stakeholders and Members will be pleased to note that the environment principles, governance and biodiversity targets Bill will be introduced before the summer recess. The Bill will establish new environmental governance arrangements, including embedding environmental principles and the introduction of a new governance body to oversee the implementation of, and compliance with, environmental law and introduce a target-setting framework for biodiversity targets.

Llywydd, we intend to make full use of the available time to introduce new legislation this Senedd term. We will expand our legislative programme into the final year of the Senedd before the elections next May, and I appreciate the flexibility that will need to be part of the process.

I welcome the positive engagement with the Business Committee to consider how we can make the most of Senedd time through more flexible, tailored timetables for Government Bills, which is particularly important as we look towards future Senedd terms of four years.

We have also scheduled this annual legislative statement earlier than usual this year to allow Senedd committees and Members, as well as external stakeholders, as much advance notice as possible about the Bills we intend to bring forward in the final year of our legislative programme.

The Bills that we intend to introduce all relate to areas and commitment the Government has talked about publicly already and with which you will be familiar. 

Following the two recent reports from the Standards of Conduct Committee on recall and deception, we will bring forward a Bill relating to the accountability of the Members of the Senedd. 

Building on the provisions made in the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill to establish a register of visitor accommodation, we will bring forward a Bill to regulate visitor accommodation in Wales through a licensing regime. This will require visitor accommodation to meet a relevant set of standards to help give visitors confidence in their safety and enhance the visitor experience, supporting tourism, a vital part of the Welsh economy.  

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs recently announced an intention to ban greyhound racing as soon as practically possible. The Government has seen the strength of feeling on this and legislation will be brought forward this Senedd term to deliver that commitment.

This Government recognises the importance of simplifying and modernising the law, and we will bring forward legislation to consolidate the law on planning, which will consolidate Welsh planning law into a single statute by bringing together provisions from various Acts. Planning legislation will also now be fully available in both English and Welsh for the first time.

We will also deliver on our commitment to remake a bilingual and consolidated conduct Order this term, ahead of the 2026 Senedd elections. This critical Order, which outlines the procedures for conducting elections to the Senedd, is larger than many Bills and has been subject to extensive consultation. This is an example of how the Government has implemented important legislation that the Senedd has agreed this term.

Llywydd, we continue to work with and respond to the UK Government’s legislative programme and are committed to achieving outcomes in Wales’s best interests, which will always include respect for devolution and our constitution.

There are a number of other areas where we remain committed to developing legislation in the future and where we will look to publish draft Bills or engage further with stakeholders this Senedd term. This includes reform of taxi and private hire vehicles, to modernise the sector and address the problems of cross-bordering. We will also continue to progress the development of reforms to unify and modernise devolved tribunals in Wales. We will also publish a green paper to meet our duty under the Welsh Tax Acts (Power to Modify) Act 2022 to publish a review of the Act by September 2026. 

The final year of our legislative programme will improve the accountability of Members to their electorate, which is a key principle of a modern democracy; support the economy and enhance the visitor experience though regulating visitor accommodation in Wales; demonstrate again that Wales is prepared to take the lead by bringing forward a ban on greyhound racing, which has cross-party and considerable public support; and improve the accessibility of Welsh planning law, which is a vital component of our aim to accelerate planning decisions to grow the Welsh economy.

Llywydd, I look forward to continuing to work across the Chamber to make sure our legislation is the best it can be, and the remainder of our programme will focus on the things that matter most to the people of Wales. I commend this legislative programme to the Senedd.

The Deputy Presiding Officer took the Chair.

After taking office in August last year, the First Minister stated that she would be a leader focused on delivery and on ambition for our nation and not some distant figure in Cardiff Bay, and that the people's priorities were, indeed, her priorities and that she wanted to lead a Government that listened and delivered. But let's face it, this Government is delivering everything but the people of Wales's priorities. So, let's take a look at this Welsh Labour Government's record.

In Wales, we have the highest NHS waiting lists in the whole of the United Kingdom, with over one in four of the Welsh population on a waiting list, and a staggering 15,500 people waiting two years or more, compared to virtually zero over the border in England. People's lives are literally on the line as a result of this Welsh Labour Government's record. In Wales, we also have the highest unemployment rate in the whole of the United Kingdom and the lowest take-home pay packets in Great Britain. Welsh Labour's policies are directly leading to the people of Wales taking home less money than our friends and our family over the border in England. And Counsel General, what has been the Welsh Government's response to this? Introducing 20mph speed limits up and down Wales, continuing to slow our country down, and creating 36 new and costly Senedd politicians, which the people of Wales do not want. Out of touch. Do you really think that you've been a Government that delivers? And looking at your Welsh Labour Government's legislative programme, it seems that you're not really doing very much at all.

Since 2021, Counsel General, the Scottish Government has delivered 58 Bills; the UK Government's legislative programme in Westminster delivered 178 Bills; but, since 2021 in Wales, you've delivered just 17. In comparison, in 2024 alone, the Scottish Government delivered 15. What on earth has this Welsh Government been doing, Counsel General? And delivery Minister, what exactly have you been delivering? Scotland has 129 MSPs, and they're producing about 0.45 Acts per politician, whilst in Wales it's just 0.28 Acts per politician. Moreover, Scotland has 2.15 times the number of politicians, yet it has produced 3.41 the number of Acts in the same time frame. So, Counsel General, when you inevitably say that we need more politicians to be more productive, we can make the case that our politicians are, per head, less productive than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. So, more politicians won't solve that problem.

Now, of course, you do still have some legislation going through the Senedd—a whopping five Bills, actually—and one of the most widely discussed ones, of course, is the one that you call the visitor accommodation Bill, but known to everyone else as the toxic tourism tax. Your own regulatory impact assessment of the tourism tax Bill has found that this toxic tax will hit the Welsh economy by up to £576 million over the next decade. Counsel General, Wales's tourism sector contributes to over 150,000 jobs in Wales and is worth over £2 billion of Wales's gross domestic product. This crucially important sector needs our support, and the Welsh Conservatives will do all we can to support tourism in Wales. So, do you agree with me and the Welsh Conservatives when we say it's time to axe the tax?

Counsel General, when you look at the Bills you have left to introduce during this Senedd term, nothing is groundbreaking, nothing is anything we didn't already know, so it's clear that, after 26 years of this clapped-out Welsh Labour Government, you're out of ideas and have run out of steam. You're not just out of touch, Counsel General, you've completely run out of ideas.

On this side of these benches, we've been really clear that Welsh Conservatives will stand up to ensure hard-working families have more money in their pockets. We'll stand up for motorists and get Wales moving. We'll fight for farmers, because when we say, 'No farmers, no food', we mean it. We will support our vulnerable pensioners by introducing a Welsh winter fuel allowance. We'll cut Wales's inhumane NHS waiting lists, and we'll stand up for those pupils in Welsh schools who consistently underperform compared with their peers elsewhere in the UK. But most importantly, Counsel General, a Welsh Conservative Government will focus on the people's priorities, something this out-of-touch Labour Government continues to fail to do. So, Counsel General, isn't it now time that you and your Welsh Labour Government get out the way and let the Welsh Conservatives deliver for the people of Wales?

Well, that was really amusing. Thank you very much, it's always nice to be cheered up on a Tuesday. Just remind me how many MPs and councils you control while you get this enormously uncontroversial thing—[Interruption.]—through. Yes, I am absolutely being patronising. I'm responding to the patronising speech I just heard. It was entirely patronising.

Let me just outline for you, very simply, as you clearly didn't listen and came with a prepared speech, what I actually said we were doing. We are about to introduce the homelessness and social housing allocation (Wales) Bill. This is the most radical change to homelessness provision anywhere in western Europe. You've only got to ask any of the housing charities who have worked alongside us on that Bill, or any of the people with lived experience, what their view of that is. So, the very idea that that's not innovative, new and progressive is for the birds.

The environmental principles, governance and biodiversity targets (Wales) Bill will leapfrog the other nations of the UK and put us in pole position to protect both our climate and our nature, our very critical nature, alongside our cultural assets, actually. It will put in place a governance body with real teeth and real power, and I commend that to the Senedd, as I'd already said.

We will bring forward a building safety (Wales) Bill, as I've already said, which will put us into prime position across western Europe for safety in our high-rise buildings. We will consolidate our planning Laws to make them accessible to Welsh people and make sure that they know what they're doing.

On the visitor accommodation regulation (Wales) Bill, I had the privilege over the Easter recess of speaking on behalf of the Government at the Commonwealth Law Conference, which was held in Malta, a place where I very happily paid treble about what we're currently proposing as a visitor levy to help that island really allow its tourism industry to thrive. I had meetings with the Minister for justice there, who told me how much that levy has done for Malta in terms of what they've been able to put forward in amenities and how much their tourism has grown as a result. So, it's always important to actually look at the evidence instead of the knee-jerk reactions that you have. There is evidence from across the cultural world that visitor levies enhance the experience for tourists for a very small price in order to give them the amenities that actually draw them there in the first place. So, you really are not at all in touch with the actual evidence here.

In terms of the NHS, of course, we've just had the biggest fall in waiting lists we've ever had, so I really suggest you update your statistics.

Thank you to the Counsel General for this afternoon's statement. I appreciate the constructive way in which you've been discussing these issues with us as business managers too, in order to ensure that the legislation can progress, and also the fact that this statement has been brought forward earlier than usual because committees can play their part, too. Clearly, there's an important role for this Chamber, but also for scrutiny committees, and the ability to prepare, along with stakeholders too to know, because there's a great deal of work facing us over this final year—.

Clearly, it's very unfortunate that we have had a period of instability in Government, which does mean that many of the things that should have happened have had to be squeezed into this final year, and we have to recognise that and the pressure that that will now put on so many of our committees. But also, there are things to be welcomed here, of course. The legacy of the co-operation agreement is clear from what you've announced today, and, clearly, we will be very pleased to help steer and shape these Bills as they go through their final stages.

There are some things that do sadden us on the Plaid Cymru benches, certainly the postponement in terms of the crucial changes to the council tax system, which is an unfair and disproportionate system, and it is a great shame that we haven't been able to proceed with changes there. Also, of course, creating a more gender equal Senedd has been dropped entirely, and that is something that deeply saddens us and we are very concerned as to the implications of that in terms of the seventh Senedd. So, there are some things that could be there.

But I was pleased to hear in your statement today that you will be ensuring that the legislative gaps that exist in terms of environmental governance, which have left us as the only nation in the UK without such arrangements in place since Brexit, is progressing. Also, you mentioned reform to the tribunal system in Wales, and that there will be work done there. I assume that we are not going to see that legislation; I would appreciate confirmation of that. Clearly, Adam Price was very clear last month on the need for us to modernise and to bring that system together. Do you believe that that will be possible or is that something that you anticipate will not be possible because of time constraints?

There are things, of course, that we will be discussing today in terms of the coal tip safety Bill. This is something that many of our communities have been desperate to see for many years. But as many stakeholders have said, the scope of the Bill appears more narrow than was suggested originally in the white paper. So, the scrutiny process will be extremely important.

So, whilst welcoming some of these things, and, clearly, some of the ones that we have been collaborating on, I do think that we must all recognise how much work is facing us and facing our committees in order to ensure that the legislation within this Senedd is the best possible legislation, and that we also learn lessons as to why political stability is so very important, because it can have an impact on the ability of the Senedd to legislate.

Diolch, Heledd. I agree with that. I will try and clarify a few of the things you said, but I broadly very much agree with where you're coming from. Certainly in terms of the co-operation agreement, we've done really good work, and I've got a long list here of the things that were passed legislatively because of it. I think a few of them are worth picking out, actually. The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022, for example, is really groundbreaking and it happened because of the co-operation agreement. There's the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023, of course, and there is the Senedd reform itself. We have got the Local Government Finance (Wales) Act 2024—one very undersung but actually a very good Act to have got through—and the social care one. We've currently got the Welsh language and Education (Wales) Bill and the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill in. And, of course, we worked together during the co-operation agreement time period—in fact, Siân and I worked very specifically on some of the homelessness things and the environmental governance and biodiversity things. The building safety one—I remember several sessions on that during the co-operation agreement, which were really good. Of course, that has meant that we have been able to bring really radical, groundbreaking legislation forward, and I am really glad that that has been able to happen.

In terms of the tribunals Bill, we think we will be able to get a fully complete draft Bill in both languages, but we won't have time to get it through the Senedd. It is not part of my statement today, but I would very much hope that it is not controversial at all; it's about getting it absolutely right and then whoever the Government is after the next election will have an uncontroversial Bill to cut their teeth on, ready to go. I have already spoken to Sir Gary Hickinbottom, the President of the Welsh Tribunals, and after this statement today, I will write out to all the stakeholders and tell them that plan. I know that they will want all of the major parties across the piece to put that into their manifestos. I don't think it is at all controversial and we will have done all of the work necessary to introduce it. We just couldn't do it in the last year; there just wasn't the time. And that is actually the same for the taxi Bill as well, so we will get the draft Bill ready, but we just ran out of time in terms of getting it through the scrutiny processes and stuff. I don't think it's a bad thing to have some things on the stocks for the seventh Senedd that are not controversial, ready to go. The new Government will have something to cut its teeth on and we can—you know, we'll start in good stead. So, it's not where I would have liked to have been, but it's not the worst possible scenario.

And then, just on a few of the other things, we still have an enormous range of secondary legislation to get through. So, amongst the pieces of work that I'm actually doing—I was discussing with the Deputy First Minister only yesterday—I have a long list of things necessary to implement the Acts. That's part of your question. So, I have a long list of things that need to be done in order to make sure that the Acts we've passed are actually implemented, in action, because, obviously, there's no point in having an Act that isn't implemented. So, I've got a long, long list of secondary legislation. And of course, we've had to balance out the time spent doing that, which sometimes is as big if not bigger than the primary legislation, in order to make sure those Acts are actually in force—so, many of the ones I've just outlined there. It's been a balance about what to do, but in the end the Government has decided that it's better to implement the actual programme than it is to just keep putting Acts on and then leaving the implementation to drift off into the future.

There is a lot to welcome here—people's priorities, as well as our priorities. The environment and biodiversity Bill—. I heard on the radio this morning the future generations commissioner saying we need to do more regarding biodiversity, and we've got this legislation coming through, really welcome, but also the bus Bill, the public services bus Bill—that's people's priority—and ending greyhound racing. We heard the public and you've put that in place now to happen before the end of the year. It's really welcome. 

We also debated adopting the Pet Abduction Act 2024, which has been introduced in England—a lot of public support there, and the Senedd all supported it. I know that the Government had to abstain, because you've got a big logjam there of legislation to get through. Rhys ab Owen suggested changing the Theft Act 1968, or putting a line in, to recognise pet theft as more than just taking an object, you know. It's really emotional for people. So, is this something—you talked earlier about going forward to the next Senedd term—that we could put forward ready? We've debated it; we know people want it. Can we get it on so that it's an Act that can be taken through really quickly and easily in the next Senedd term? Thank you.

So, I think that one of the things that we'd be very keen to do as we go towards the election—and this, obviously, affects all of the parties here today—is to talk across party about a series of things that the Government can begin the preparation for in order to have them ready to go that are not controversial and would be likely to be included in all of the manifestos of the main parties. We'll be continuing that conversation. That, obviously, can go on the list of that, and then, obviously, it would be a matter for whoever the incoming Government is to pick that up. But we will be talking to all the major parties present in the Senedd about what that list might look like and to make sure that we're geared up for it.

We're going to a four-year Senedd term, so we can't really afford to not have legislation going through straight away, and so making sure that we have some consensual legislation ready to go—. And we're very happy to commit Government drafting time to some of that, to make sure that happens. So, I will be having those conversations across the piece, and, as the election approaches, obviously, everybody gets access to the civil servants to talk through what they need to do. And if we can find those consensual pieces across the Chamber—I think the tribunals Act is a very good example of them, but there are others—then we can obviously bring those forward—. Well, we can get them as ready as we can in order to make sure they happen.

Can I also thank you for the way that you've engaged with myself, just as Heledd did with Plaid Cymru? We really do welcome that approach. I've got to start with the ban on greyhound racing, on behalf of Arthur, who is no longer with us, and Wanda who is, and also I'd like to pay tribute to all those amazing animal charities who've worked so hard to get this in place. I look forward to the implementation group being in place very soon in order to take it forward.

I'm pleased at the legislation to eliminate profit, and the bus Bill as well, with the £1 bus fare for 21 and unders that we had in the deal. I am saddened that the gender quota Bill didn't go through. Many of us spent a lot of time on a committee hearing evidence from a lot of people and making recommendations, and that was a real sad day when we heard that it wasn't going to go through. But I just wanted to spend one minute—less than one minute; 10 seconds—talking about the Member accountability Bill and the deception part of that. My questions to you really are that, in order to restore public trust, we need some real principles in there, so I hope I'll be able to meet with you to talk a little bit more about it, but the issues really are about independence, about a judicial process, and about a process that is fair and accountable. Thank you—diolch.

Thank you, Jane. I share the frustration on the gender quota Bill. We just weren’t able to do it in a way that meant that we were sure we could get it through. We had to sever it, as you remember, from the reform Bill itself because we were afraid that it would take the whole thing down, and then we haven’t been able to work out a way to do it. That does not mean it can’t be done in the future, but it was very challenging to do. I share your sadness at that. I am sure that will be a piece of work that comes forward again.

In terms of the Member accountability Bill, yes, I absolutely intend to speak to yourself and to Adam and to Lee, who were the three people who pushed it forward in the first place. But I also intend to engage properly with all of the parties in the Senedd about what we expect that Bill to look like and what’s possible. I have also had a conversation with the Chair of the standards committee about what they expect and what is achievable. But I'm absolutely committed to taking something through that we can get through this Senedd term. Whether we will be able to get all of the implementing regulations through is something we will need to discuss. We will have to have discussions with the Business Committee about an expedited timetable for that Bill, because there's no way we can get it ready before the half-term in the autumn term, and so we just will not be able to have a 12-week Stage 1 scrutiny period or it will time out. So, we will have to do a lot of work across the Senedd to make sure that that happens, but that does not mean we can’t do that, and I'm very much looking forward to it. There is a placeholder in the programme to make sure that it can stay there, so I'm very committed to that. It has the two bits in it. It has the recall provisions, as well as the Member accountability provisions, so we will need to make sure that we work very hard to put those in place.

The Deputy First Minister, I know, has been working hard on the implementation group for the greyhound ban, and I hope we’ll announce that very shortly. I'm sure I've seen a draft. So, yes, that should be any minute now, I think. That should be coming out. Then, as you know, we have the placeholder Bill in place for the backstop for that as well. So, we'll be convening some groups to make sure that we have the gist of that. I will be doing that alongside the drafters, so I will make sure that the legislative counsel who actually draft the Bill are part of that group as well, so that we kind of circumvent some of the iterative processes so that we can do it as fast as possible.

Diolch. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and the Counsel General, yourself, for inviting me to a series of constructive meetings regarding my British Sign Language (Wales) Bill over the last few months. As you know, the Bill as now drafted will place a statutory duty on Welsh Ministers to promote, support and report on the use of BSL throughout Wales. The Act outlines a comprehensive framework, including the preparation of a BSL strategy, guidance for public bodies and the creation of BSL plans for key public institutions. It also requires the appointment of a statutory BSL adviser who will advise Welsh Ministers. Will the Counsel General confirm her agreement with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and I that this adviser would be a BSL user themselves and they would have the power to appoint a BSL advisory panel, which would mean that this legislation would go further than any other BSL legislation in the UK?

The need for this legislation was once again highlighted by the reports last week of the deaf man living near Mold who died from cancer and whose daughter stated that his care was impacted by a severe lack of sign language provision. This language legislation will help make Wales a more inclusive place for BSL users, enabling them to participate in public life and access essential services. Finally, therefore, will the Counsel General also confirm that legislative time will be made available in the remainder of this Senedd term to allow my Bill to progress through the legislative stages? Does she agree that we must get this legislation right, with lived experience at the heart of the Bill, for the BSL and wider deaf community?

Thank you very much, Mark. I'm absolutely delighted to be able to confirm ‘yes’ to all of your questions. It isn't, obviously, in my statement today, because it's not a Government Bill—it's your Bill—but the Government will absolutely work with you to make sure that it goes through. We are in absolute agreement on it, and we will make sure that the legislative time is made available. We will help you speak with the Business Committee to make sure that the scrutiny arrangements are in place and we've got a placeholder for it in the programme, although it remains your Bill and not mine, so that's why it's not on my list. But we've been delighted to work with you; the Minister for social justice and myself have been delighted to be part of that, and I'm very grateful to you for having brought it forward. 

Finally, Mick Antoniw. 

Counsel General, firstly, thank you for the statement. I was disappointed in the Opposition's contribution to your statement. Normally, with oppositions, they set out some of the legislation they would have liked to have seen, and I don't think there was a single piece of legislation that was mentioned. It's no wonder they lost all the Members of Parliament in the last General Election. Can I say also that what is clearly happening is that we are creating a growing body of Welsh law and legislation, and obviously issues around the devolution of justice, which we all want to see, will, hopefully, make progress.

Can I just say a couple of pieces of legislation that are really important? The consolidation planning Bill—I'm glad to see that is progressing. It may actually, although consolidation, be one of the most significant and important pieces of legislation that we've passed in terms of the economic benefits that there will be. On the tribunals Bill, I very much welcome the fact that the Government will be working, the legislative programme will be working, through to the very last minutes that are feasible within it, which is quite unique, and obviously reflects the fact that we'll need to do that time after time in the new Senedd, because, with a four-year programme, there is no time, there is no availability of time, to waste or to defer—so, to maximise legislation, and particularly shorter and focused pieces of legislation as well, and I very much welcome what was said in respect of the sign language Bill.

On tribunals, obviously a very, very important piece of legislation, but again it makes perfect sense to have legislation that is continuing from one Senedd to another on important matters of policy and operation of this Senedd, particularly within the justice sector.

Can I just add one further point, then? There are certain bits of legislation that clearly need reviewing. You referred earlier to the Agriculture (Wales) Act, and I know that, for example, Unite the Union, the agricultural workers section, are keen for there to be reviews of part of that. Do you have any plans in respect of the review of legislation and updating in terms of what we've learned as legislation progresses year after year? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mick. So, I absolutely agree with your points there. As you know, as a Parliament, we haven't got a wash-up process, as they do in the UK Parliament, and it is one of the things that I think we should consider as a Senedd going forward, because there will be Bills that are consensual in that way that could fall into a wash-up process, and, if there was such a process, we might have got the tribunals Bill through. So, it's something we should really consider for future Senedd programmes.

I've also been discussing with the Business Committee—and, indeed, as a member of the Future Senedd Committee—some of the other things that we can do that would allow consensual, procedural-type legislation to go through. One of the things we intend to do, as I've said a number of times in this place to Members, is we intend to do an omnibus correction, repeal and tidying up, if you like, Bill. We would expect to see at least one of those per Senedd term, and I would very much like to see one every other year, actually, in which we improve the accessibility of the law by tidying up the various pieces. And there's a piece of work going on with all of the legislative counsels of the four nations around what is the primacy of the law. So, this is very technical. Apologies to everyone who isn't really into this, but at the moment in the UK—and I'm telling you something you already know, Mick, I know—it's the paper law that's the law, and the digital version is not the definitive law. In virtually every other jurisdiction in the world, it's the other way around. And you wouldn't, if it was the other way around, be able to give the King's Printer for Wales the ability to correct the digital record. So, for example, the example we give all the time is that, in much UK legislation, powers are given to the Secretary of State. It's not obvious which Secretary of State; you have to do a little bit of rummaging around to find out. But, because of the growth in Welsh law, 'the Secretary of State' can mean the Welsh Ministers; it can mean the Secretary of State in regard to England and the Welsh Ministers in regard to Wales. But, even more extraordinarily, that Act might be disapplied in England and it might only mean the Welsh Ministers. Good luck with figuring that out, if you're appearing in a court.

So, if we went to the digital law being the primary law, then the King's Printer could actually correct that, and they could do that as an administrative thing, whereas, at the moment, we would have to take amending legislation through, which is a huge palaver to do something pretty straightforward. So, I agree with you, I think there are a number of things that the maturing Senedd will be able to do that will improve the accessibility of law, and one of those is absolutely legislation that goes across Senedd terms or falls into a wash-up.

I thank the Counsel General.