Winner of the fifth non-government Members’ Bill ballot announced

The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, Rosemary Butler AM, has announced the winner of the fifth non-government Members’ Bill ballot.  

The successful Member, Darren Millar AM, will now be able to have a debate by the Assembly on his proposal for a Chewing Gum Levy Bill. The debate will decide whether or not he will be allowed to introduce a Bill to give effect to the proposal.

The proposal states:

The purpose of this Bill would be to introduce a 5p levy at the point of sale on each sale of chewing gum packs to help alleviate the country’s growing chewing gum litter problem. The levy would be enforced by local authorities. The proceeds of the levy would go to:

1. Improving educational awareness through public campaigns to promote the responsible disposal of chewing gum.

2. Improving enforcement of responsible chewing gum disposal.

3. Assisting local authorities in the cost of removing chewing gum deposits from Wales’ streets.

A debate on whether to allow the proposal to proceed as a Bill must now take place during Plenary by 7 November 2012.   

Darren Millar AM said: “I'm delighted that I've won the legislative ballot to bring a motion before the National Assembly on my proposal to introduce a chewing gum levy in Wales.

“Chewing gum litter is a blight on our streets which is costing councils thousands to remove. The introduction of a small levy on a packet of chewing gum can help to tackle this problem and change the behaviour of those who choose to spit their gum onto our streets.

“I very much hope that Assembly Members from all parties will allow this proposal to move forward to more detailed scrutiny later in the year.”