Government Response: The Agricultural Tenancies (Requests for Landlord’s Consent or Variation of Terms) (Wales) Regulations 2024

Technical Scrutiny points 1 and 2:                   The Welsh Government notes the points raised, but do not consider them to have any practical impact on the operation of the provision or instrument and will not seek to amend the instrument in respect of these points.

Technical Scrutiny point 3:                     The Welsh Government notes the point raised, but do not consider it to have any practical impact on the operation of the provision or instrument. However, as amending regulations are required to address reporting point 6, we will take that opportunity to amend the provision.

Technical Scrutiny point 4:                     The Welsh Government notes the point raised, but do not consider it to have any practical impact on the operation of the provision or instrument and will not seek to amend the instrument in respect of this point. Further, we disagree. The description in parenthesis after the reference to section 22 of the 2023 Act mirrors the description used in section 24(2)(c) and (4) of the 2023 Act.

Technical Scrutiny point 5:                     The Welsh Government notes the point raised, but do not consider it to have any practical impact on the operation of the provision or instrument. However, as amending regulations are required to address reporting point 6, we will take that opportunity to amend the provision.

Technical Scrutiny point 6:                     The Welsh Government notes the point and will amend these Regulations to achieve a consistent reference to a “period of 4 months”. This will be addressed by amending regulations which we aim to introduce before the end of 2024.

Technical Scrutiny point 7:                     The Welsh Government notes the point raised, but do not consider it to have any practical impact on the operation of the provision or instrument. However, as amending regulations are required to address reporting point 6, we will take that opportunity to amend the provision.

Merit Scrutiny point 8:                              The Welsh Government notes the point raised and confirms the correct title is that used in the Regulations. The Explanatory Memorandum has been amended accordingly.

Merit Scrutiny point 9: The Welsh Government notes the point raised however as section 36A(3) of the 1995 Act it is not an enabling power, we have followed both our usual drafting practice, and section 3.11.23 of The National Archives’ Statutory Instrument Practice, which clearly states  "You should not cite provisions that merely specify the relevant Parliamentary procedure”.