, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Prynhawn da a chroeso i chi i gyd. Welcome, this afternoon, to this session of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee. We're meeting in virtual setting today via Zoom, but apart from that all of our Standing Orders apply as per normal. We're…
, Plenary
Questions to the Senedd Commission
Diolch yn fawr iawn. Thank you very much for that answer. It's good to see the work that has been going on already, and that continues to go on, to increase the proportion of rooms that can be used in hybrid format, because, as we all know, it seems to be…
, Plenary
Questions to the Senedd Commission
1. What plans does the Commission have to increase the proportion of committee and meeting rooms that can accommodate hybrid meetings across the Senedd estate? OQ58295
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I thank the Counsel General for that answer. The challenges with this bill of rights being brought forward have been well rehearsed this afternoon, not least the significant risks that external observers have noted to the devolution settlements right across…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
8. What engagement has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government on the development of the Bill of Rights? OQ58294
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think the cumulative impact, Counsel General, is very important. There's been much attention to the Bill of Rights Bill and the impact here today in the Senedd, quite rightly, yet this raft of UK legislation, worryingly rushed and lacking effective scrutiny…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
6. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the cumulative impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, and the Bill of Rights on access to justice in Wales? OQ58293
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice
So, Minister, thank you for the answer, and apologies for a slight diversion into history, but we know that it was in the shadow of world war two that Churchill and Mitterrand and others backed a convention, supported by 100 parliamentarians from the 12…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice
7. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of the UK Government's proposed Bill of Rights on the legislative and policy framework in Wales? OQ58292
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. We thank the Counsel General for his introductory statement and also for adding to our committee's busy scrutiny programme by bringing forward this historic—in more ways than title alone—first consolidation Bill in Wales. Now, the…
, Plenary
Statement by the First Minister: The Legislative Programme
First Minister, I've challenged you and the Counsel General before to give us a programme full of made-in-Wales legislation. I think this current Senedd of 60 Members will have its hands full in the year ahead, I have to say—there is plenty to get our teeth…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
The support that the Welsh Government has provided to bus services and rail services in Wales during the pandemic has enabled our public transport system to come through, albeit battered by events, but ready to move on to the next stage, which will involve…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of the meeting
So, okay, in which case, colleagues, if I can ask you, if you're happy, under Standing 17.42, to go into private. We'll get into the meat of some of these things in private discussion. Are we happy to do so? We are. In which case, we'll go into private, and…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Papers to note
James, thank you very much. That's a really constructive suggestion, a really helpful suggestion there, and possibly well targeted as well, particularly if we're going to have UK Government representatives in front of us later, within the next couple of…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Papers to note
Thanks, Alun. I'm going to bring James in in a moment. Just to note, we'll have a couple of opportunities as well to go into some detail on this when we have a really firm analysis pulled together. One is within our annual report as well, which we've…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Papers to note
So, in which case, we're on to the papers to note for today, and we have quite a few of them under item 6. Item 6.1, we have a written statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution in respect of the retained EU law interactive dashboard…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Inter-institutional relations agreement
So, that brings us on then to item No. 5, notifications and correspondence under the inter-institutional relations agreement—again, a regular part of our deliberations. We're going to turn to item 5.1 first of all, where we have a written statement by the…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3 - previously considered
So that takes us on to item No. 4, which, as per normal, is instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3, but which we have previously considered. And the first of these is item 4.1, SL(6)213, the Welsh Language…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
Good. Okay. That's excellent. Thank you. Colleagues, any comments, or we are happy, for the moment, to agree those reporting points? We are. Thank you very much. We look forward to that Welsh Government further response to those points.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
That's brilliant, thank you. We are nothing if not consistent. Thank you very much for that. Excellent. Are colleagues happy to agree that? We are. Brilliant. Thank you very much. Okay, well, that takes us beyond that suite of items, but we go on to other…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
Ah, that's brilliant. Good, thank you. Okay, having flushed those out so that everybody can see those points, are we happy, colleagues, to agree that, to agree those points? Yes, we are. Thank you very much for that. And then that brings us on to item 3.4…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
That's brilliant. Okay, colleagues, happy with that reporting point there? Okay. We'll await the Welsh Government response. So, we're on, then, to item 3.3 in this linked batch, linked suite of regulations, SL(6)219, the Education (Temporary Exceptions for…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
Okay, thank you. So, a small win there, a small but important win, and we've raised the points on the other matter—no need, you think, to actually go back and fight this battle again. Colleagues, are we happy with those points and the report on that? We are…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
So, on swiftly then to item No. 3, which, as per normal, are the instruments that do raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under those Standing Orders 21.2 and 21.3. Just to say to Members that the instruments we're going to consider next under items 3.1…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Instruments that raise no reporting issues under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3
We've got quite a busy agenda in front of us today, both in public and in private session, so we'll get straight under way with our normal first item, item No. 2, which is instruments that raise no reporting issues under Standing Orders 21.2 and 21.3. Now, we…
