, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Inter-institutional relations agreement
Yes.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Okay. I think Adam wants to return to the tribunals.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Describe the work that you would undertake during a year, say the last year, with the Welsh Government, with colleagues here in the Senedd or others, to strengthen that judicial understanding of Welsh law.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
To what extent—? Describe, then, the work that you do with either colleagues here at the Senedd, the Welsh Government or any other stakeholders in Wales to actually strengthen that understanding of devolved law.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Thank you for that. To what extent, then, can you be confident that members of the judiciary fully understand that distinct legal landscape in Wales?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
That's a pretty sad reflection on the state of the justice system across our jurisdictions. In terms of taking the conversation forward, I thought your response, Lady Carr, to the questions on language were very persuasive and convincing. I'm less persuaded…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Well, I said it was a failure. I didn't say that it was overdue, I said that it was a failure.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
But it's a real failure, though, isn't it, if the jurisdiction of England and Wales has somebody in your position, after however many centuries there have been, making the point that judges need to understand the legal framework.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Thank you very much for that, Lady Carr. I was interested in two things that you said in your introductory remarks. You quoted Lord Thomas in his analysis of the Cardiff centre back in 2019. The fact that, coming up to seven years later, we're in the same…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
But we don't have a wheel to reinvent. That's my problem.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
I don't want that in Blaenau Gwent. My experience is that the CJC covering south Wales, the Cardiff city region, is Cardiff, south Wales and the M4 corridor, and that's fine for doing that. But, for an organisation that has failed to deliver any strategic…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
But it's important, because it's about our democracy, because the Minister is accountable to this Parliament, not to another Government.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
We also sat in the EU Council making those decisions—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
You were a little, how shall I say, reluctant to publish KPIs in an earlier session. You gave the impression, and I'm sorry if I'm misrepresenting you, but the point I'd like to make in just pinning you down a little bit further, if we could, is that when you…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Can I just have one more?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Okay. So, if we're looking at—. We've discussed, and we will discuss later in the session, the capital/revenue division, and I don't want to go down that route now, but I am interested, therefore, in the sort of capital investment that you are considering to…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
But it is important that this committee feels reassured that the Welsh Government is not going to continue to pursue an economic policy that benefits the richer areas of Wales against the interests of the poorer areas of Wales. I think people in Wales will…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Okay, I'm grateful to you for that, but I'm looking as well at how the politics of this works and how the economic impact of this works, because we had a conversation in a previous session where I feel the Welsh Government has taken, all too often, the easy…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
So we can look at those online, through the Welsh Government. Okay. I'm grateful to you for that. In terms of gathering this sort of information base to take your decisions, I presume you'll be looking both at these responses now—. And you said there are no…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
The membership and minutes of the group chaired by Carolyn Thomas, have the minutes been published?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
Shortly. So, next week or the week after. You will be publishing, I presume—. I don't think I've seen the consultation responses yet. You will be publishing those.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Local Growth Fund
In terms of the structure of decision making, you're expecting a statement on 24 February, so the decisions in Cabinet will be taken next week or the week after.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
Okay. Thank you.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
But since that conversation, then, if it was at the beginning of the month, we've had all this nonsense recently about Greenland, and then tariffs being supposedly imposed and then not imposed. We all know that Trump always chickens out—TACO. So, we’ve got a…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Future of Welsh Steel
But we know those conversations with Brussels are very difficult and not going well at the moment.
