National Assembly for Wales

Good afternoon, and can I welcome Members and the public to this afternoon's meeting of the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee? Before we go into our normal business, can I remind Members that the meeting is bilingual? If you require simultaneous translation from Welsh to English, that's available via the headphones on channel 1. The headphones are also available to use for amplification, and that's on channel 0. Can I remind Members: please turn your mobile phones off or on silent, or any other electronic equipment that may interfere with the broadcasting equipment? We have no scheduled fire alarms this afternoon, so, if one does take place, please follow the directions of the ushers to a safe place. We have received apologies from Steffan Lewis; there is no substitute been identified for him.

We move on to the next item on the agenda, which is the scrutiny session with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance. Members will be aware that Brexit is fluid—very fluid—at this moment in time, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has been called to a special meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on European negotiations in London today, and, as such, has sent his apologies, though he has confirmed that he will be in attendance at next week's session. Therefore, item 2 has been postponed until next week.

We move on to item 3, papers to note. The first paper is from David Rowlands, Chair of the Petitions Committee, regarding a petition for fair funding for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and all other local authorities. At this point in time, I declare an interest, as I represent a constituency within Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. But we just simply note the paper. Are Members content?

Paper 2 to note is correspondence from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, Robin Walker, regarding the additional information we requested after his attendance on 11 October. I don't think there's anything immediate that we need to take from that, but we may wish to consider it in some of our session discussions in the private session following this meeting. Are Members okay with that?

Yes.

Thank you. Paper 3—the letter from the British Veterinary Association on the consequences of a 'no-deal' Brexit for the veterinary profession. Again, are Members content to note the correspondence?

Yes.

They are. Paper 4 is correspondence from Jim Harra, who's the deputy chief executive and second permanent secretary at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, regarding clarification of customs checks when landed in a destination state, which I think we sought. Are Members content to note the contents of that?

Content.

They are. And paper 5—correspondence from the First Minister, following his attendance at the meeting on 5 November, clarifying an Assembly vote on a withdrawal agreement. Again, just to highlight, it is our firm intention to also hold a vote on the wider agreement reached with the EU-27. It's also my intention for this vote in the National Assembly to be held before the meaningful vote in the House of Commons. So, that clarifies that, separate from the legislative consent motion issue, which will come as part of the withdrawal agreement Bill. Are Members content to note that?

Yes.

I see they are. Thank you. They are all the papers to note.

Therefore, item 4, under Standing order 17.42(vi), we resolve to meet in private for the remainder of the meeting. Are Members content to do so?

Agreed.

Yes.

For the remainder of the meeting, we'll now move into private session.