Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Rwy’n symud y cynnig.

Thank you for the opportunity to explain the background to this legislative consent motion. The Digital Economy Bill was introduced on 5 July 2016 by the UK Government. The relevant Part of the Bill to this LCM, Part 5, aims to improve the digital delivery of Government by enabling the sharing of data to improve public services, tackle fraud, manage debt owed to the public sector more coherently and improve research and official statistics. I would ask the National Assembly to support these provisions within the Bill, because there are clear public benefits contained within these provisions that justify legislating, while, at the same time, providing necessary and essential public protections. I acknowledge the co-operative way in which UK Government Ministers have worked with us to develop provisions that will allow Wales to develop its own approaches, while providing for a consistent and coherent UK-wide system.

I think it is fair, Llywydd, to say that the Bill has not enjoyed an uncomplicated passage through the Houses of Parliament. My Cardiff West colleague, Kevin Brennan MP, leading for the official opposition on the Bill, suggested on introduction that it was not ready to leave home when it had been allowed to do so. Later in the process, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee of the House of Lords reported a series of concerns in relation to a number of aspects of the Bill. The result has been a running series of amendments to the Bill at all stages of its consideration, including the very final stages. As a result, it has been necessary to lay a supplementary memorandum before the Assembly, over and above the original document, as set out in November 2016.

I’m very grateful to the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee for its understanding of these difficulties and its consideration of the initial legislative consent memorandum in November. I was pleased to take the opportunity to clarify the position on human rights in correspondence with the committee Chair, John Griffiths, and I note that the committee has not raised any objections to agreement of the motion before the Assembly this afternoon.

If that is the outcome, Llywydd, it will secure an important set of new powers for the National Assembly and for Welsh Ministers, who will have regulation-making powers to set objectives in connection with the sharing of data for the purposes of public service improvement in Wales and to name the public authorities in Wales to which the clauses on improving public services, tackling fraud and managing debt owed to the public sector will apply. Any regulations introduced by the Welsh Ministers will be subject to the affirmative procedure, and, therefore, will be subject to scrutiny on the floor of the National Assembly.

While UK Ministers retain the power to specify UK-wide public service delivery objectives, that power can only now be exercised in consultation with Welsh Ministers on issues that impact on Wales and the corresponding duties based on the Welsh Ministers when they seek to specify public service objectives. Let me be clear that all these powers are enabling and permissive and can only be applied for specified purposes. Among the purposes that would be important to Members in this Assembly is the sharing of data to provide automatic access to schemes that provide discounts from energy bills for people living in fuel poverty and, as a result of late amendments to the Bill, in water poverty too.

Now, Llywydd, as the Bill has proceeded, one of my main concerns has been to ensure that there are full and effective safeguards in relation to data sharing. This is an aspect of the Bill that has been materially strengthened during its parliamentary passage so that extensive protections are now built into it. The legislation is consistent with the Data Protection Act 1998 and it introduces new criminal offences for the unlawful disclosure of information. The Bill also requires the introduction of statutory codes of practice on data sharing on which Welsh Ministers must be consulted. My officials have already seen and commented on drafts of the intended code.

Strong safeguards are also now in place in those important provisions of the Bill that enable public authorities to share data for the purposes of research. That data to be shared must be de-identified, must be shared only with accredited researchers in secure facilities, carrying out research for public benefit. The UK Statistics Authority must accredit those hoping to make use of the powers to ensure that those handling the data are doing so for a proper purpose and have the necessary safeguards in place.

Llywydd, I believe that these are public benefits that we would want to see available in Wales. We have no legislative vehicle in our current programme that would be suitable to achieve these purposes, and as this Bill covers both devolved and non-devolved matters, it will achieve coherence in the sharing of data between devolved and non-devolved bodies. Given that we have secured suitable powers for the National Assembly for Wales, and necessary safeguards for the citizen, I would ask Members to support the motion and grant legislative consent this afternoon.