Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Gan mai hwn yw fy nghyfraniad cyntaf i’r trafodaethau heddiw, hoffwn i wneud ychydig o sylwadau cyffredinol i ddechrau. Ein nod yn y Bil yma oedd adeiladu’r fframwaith gweinyddol a gafodd ei sefydlu gan Ddeddf Casglu a Rheoli Trethi (Cymru) 2016. Rydym ni’n gwneud hynny trwy nodi'r fframwaith gweithredu ar gyfer cyflwyno’r dreth gwarediadau tirlenwi yng Nghymru a fydd yn cymryd lle’r dreth tirlenwi ym mis Ebrill y flwyddyn nesaf.

Rydw i’n credu ein bod ni i gyd yn gytûn bod angen i’r dreth rydym ni’n ei sefydlu ar gyfer gwastraff sy’n mynd i safleoedd tirlenwi yng Nghymru fod yn un y gellir ei rheoli a’i chasglu yn effeithiol. Bydd angen i hynny ddigwydd o fewn system drethi sy’n diogelu refeniw ac sydd hefyd yn glir, agored a theg i’r trethdalwr.

Hoffwn ddiolch i holl Aelodau’r Cynulliad, yn enwedig aelodau’r Pwyllgor Cyllid a’r Pwyllgor Materion Cyfansoddiadol a Deddfwriaethol, am eu gwaith hyd yma yn craffu ar y Bil. Mae hyn wedi bod yn gyfraniad gwerthfawr iawn i’r gwaith o lunio’r gyfraith hon ar drethu.

Rydw i’n ddiolchgar iawn hefyd i bawb sydd wedi bod yn barod i drafod gyda ni a chyfrannu syniadau wrth i ni ddatblygu’r ddeddfwriaeth ar y dreth gwarediadau tirlenwi. Trwy gydol y broses, rydw i’n meddwl ei fod yn deg i ddweud, mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi gwrando ar farn rhanddeiliaid ac Aelodau. Roeddwn i’n falch o allu derbyn bron y cyfan o argymhellion y pwyllgor. Lle yr oedd modd hefyd, fe wnes i gyflwyno gwelliannau Llywodraeth yng Nghyfnod 2 er mwyn delio â’r materion a godwyd.

With that said, Dirprwy Lywydd, I’ll turn to the specific amendments in group 1. I’d like to move and to speak to the two Government amendments in this group, and also to address Nick Ramsay’s amendment 52.

Both Government amendments in this group are relatively technical, and are needed to reflect changes agreed at Stage 2 proceedings. It has always been the Government’s intention to offer a communities scheme as part of landfill disposal tax. The Finance Committee’s Stage 1 report recommended that a reference to the scheme be placed on the face of the Bill. The Government tabled an amendment in response to that recommendation, and that amendment was supported at Stage 2, and, on 13 June, we published an updated explanatory memorandum and regulatory impact assessment, incorporating detail about the communities scheme.

Today, amendment 2 reflects that development by adding a reference to the communities scheme into the Bill’s overview section. Amendment 32 is also needed to ensure a consistency of drafting style across the Bill, and I ask Members to support both Government amendments in this group.

I’ll have to anticipate a little of what I think Nick Ramsay might be about to say, having heard his contributions at Stage 2, and his amendment, as Members will see, aims to place more detail about the scheme on the face of the Bill. I want to be clear this afternoon that I have no objection to the ideas encapsulated in that amendment. They’re very consistent with the discussions already held in committee on the detail of the scheme. My reason for not asking Members to support amendment 52 is because I want to remain consistent with a commitment I made at Stage 2, which I restated in a letter to the Chair of the Finance Committee on 5 June, and that was a commitment to continue to work with the Finance Committee in developing the details of the scheme.

A briefing has been offered to the committee, following the summer recess, to provide Members with the most up-to-date information. That briefing will include details of the procurement exercise for the distributive body for the scheme, and that procurement exercise has already begun. I do think it is important to allow potential distributive bodies to bring their views to the table as to how they would manage the grant award process and assess individual applications.

Nick Ramsay’s amendment 52, while a very useful contribution to that discussion, could have an unintended consequence of limiting their contributions, if it were passed at this stage. While I’m very keen to give a commitment this afternoon that the substance of amendment 52 will form part of the ongoing discussion on the detail of the community scheme, I hope that Members will not constrain its development by placing this amendment on the face of the Bill this afternoon.