Now, I know that not all Members will agree with the balance that we have come to in the Bill, particularly in relation to the use of Henry VIII powers, but I do want to be clear this afternoon about the rationale that underpins our approach. It reflects what we believe to be the best available balance between an advanced level of detailed provision on the face of primary legislation, and the necessary flexibility exercised within the scrutiny procedures of the legislature, which secondary powers provide.

Llywydd, I need to deal rapidly with a series of recommendations for changes to the Bill contained in the Finance Committee’s report in particular. Provided agreement is given today to move this Bill to the next stage, and provided the necessary legal and drafting work can be completed, I intend to bring forward, at Stage 2, amendments to take the committee’s advice in relation to pet cemeteries, water discounts, use of weighbridges and tax relief in relation to flood prevention. I will do so within the terms of my written response to recommendations 7, 9, 13 and 16 of the Finance Committee’s report.

Llywydd, there’s been a great deal of interest in the Welsh Government’s commitment to establish a community scheme to support those areas affected by landfill sites, and I wrote to the Finance Committee yesterday to update Members on stakeholder responses to the paper I published before Christmas. The committee has called for a provision in relation to the community scheme to be included directly in the Bill. I have carefully considered the views of the committee and stakeholders, and will now work to bring forward a Government amendment to that end, later in the Bill’s process.

In relation to the Finance Committee’s recommendation 11, specification of qualifying material, further discussions are needed to test the response I intend to make to the committee’s views. Provided some genuinely complex and technical matters can be resolved, I hope again to lay Government proposals to respond to this recommendation during the Bill’s amending stages.

In relation to recommendation 5 of the Finance Committee report, the definition of disposal of material as waste, I provided the committee with a detailed note setting out the process by which the definition of a taxable disposal was constructed, and the reasons why we think the proposed provisions are necessary and appropriate.

This all means, Llywydd, that in terms of recommendations by the Finance Committee, there is only one that cannot be taken forward positively by the Government. I have looked again carefully at the committee’s views on credit for bad debt, as set out in recommendation 18 of the report. This is an area where provision will be technical, intricate and lengthy, and therefore I continue to conclude that it would be better suited to being set out in secondary regulation. In order to assist the scrutiny process, however, and in recognition of the points that both committees have made about scrutiny of this matter, I will aim to publish draft regulations, in order that the committee can be aware of them, and consider them ahead of laying final versions before the National Assembly in the autumn. In this way, the Government will be able to take account of any views of the committee, having had a chance to consider those draft regulations. I will also provide the committee with more detail of the policy intent behind these regulations during Stage 2 proceedings, again in order to assist the scrutiny process.

Llywydd, there is a great deal more in both reports of both committees to which I have made response in my letters to committee Chairs. I thank them again for the detailed and constructive spirit in which the Stage 1 consideration has been undertaken, and I hope that Members will see that my response this afternoon has been shaped in the same spirit. I believe it to be a shared ambition across the Chamber that the National Assembly takes on our new fiscal responsibilities in the best possible way, and I have considered the advice of both committees as constructive contributions to achieving just that. I hope that Members will agree to this Bill proceeding this afternoon, as recommended by the Finance Committee, so that this work can continue.