, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
We won't keep you from that. Alun, I'm going to pass straight to you on an area that's been of great interest to the committee, if you'd like to take us on. It's quite a different area, Minister.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. Well, look, thank you for that. Time is against us slightly. Could I ask—do you have to leave, like Cinderella, bang on the moment that you've told us?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. Well, thank you for that. In the last section of this evidence session, we want to turn our attention to something entirely different. But just before we do, you touched on the issue there of legal aid and some of the difficulties in accessing legal…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Again, I think, on some of these areas, we'll continue to explore them with you, because it's saying that you've clearly done the analysis of what the problems are, helped by some of the work that's already done, but actually monitoring progress against them…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. The other aspect, Counsel General, was the aspect of the role in the economy, because if we get this right, and the support is in the right place, then, in every part of Wales, the legal sector has a role to play in driving our local economies…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, support for legal education you've touched on, there, in terms of the apprenticeships, but is there anything you wanted to add to that?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thanks, Rhys. Thank you very much for that, and we might need to pick up other areas with you, Counsel General, as well, subsequently. But we've mentioned the Thomas commission several times today, and we go back to them sometimes as a bit of a lodestar for…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you, Alun. And now on to Rhys.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Alun, my apologies, I missed that. Go ahead.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you very much, Darren. Darren’s obviously not aware that every time the phrase 'regular, reliable rhythm' is used, the First Minister gets a royalty. [Laughter.] So, there’s another one. Rhys, you’re going to take us on into another area now.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you, James, very much. We'll move on, then, to looking at some of the areas in some more detail now. I'm going to bring in Darren. Darren, thank you for being with us today at fairly short notice. Over to you.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think it does, Counsel General, answer in terms of the direction and some of your priorities, but the problem with process and so on is that it's hard to hold a Government to account on just process; it's outcomes that we're looking for. Let me just ask you…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. Thank you, Counsel General, and, Alun for that follow-up there. This is a bit of a teaser because we'll come back to this in some detailed scrutiny, but it's good to get a flavour of your thinking and your response to the announcement that we've heard…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay, thank you. As I say, we don't want to dwell overlong on this, because we'll return our full scrutiny to this, but it is such a significant announcement, it's been long anticipated. But I think, Alun, you wanted to just explore this a little bit further.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
That's brilliant. Well, if I can just begin with a slight tangent, because the committee was very interested to see, in the last few days, that you've actually published—. You've made some announcements on the progress with the changes to the machinery of…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
So, we'll head straight then into the first and substantive part of this afternoon's committee session in public, which is our scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, Mick Antoniw MS. Delighted to have you with us once…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Good afternoon. Welcome to this virtual meeting of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee. This is broadcast live on Senedd.tv and the Record of Proceedings will be published as usual. And, as normal, apart from the normal procedural adaptations…
, Plenary
Questions to the Senedd Commission
I have to say we have to give a compliment to all the people within the Commission who've managed to adapt very rapidly to moving services and provision online so that we can do the sort of engagement we've seen, and not least amongst this, I have to say, is…
, Plenary
Questions to the Senedd Commission
Thank you very much for that answer.
, Plenary
Questions to the Senedd Commission
1. What assessment has the Commission made of the impact of COVID-19 on the engagement activities of the Senedd and its committees? OQ57408
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
A simple supplementary, Counsel General. In awaiting the future response from the UK Government, I wonder on what basis does he expect engagement between the UK Government and Welsh Government Ministers such as himself, the Counsel General, to be conducted…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
8. What discussions has the Counsel General had with other UK law officers in respect of the UK Government's review of EU retained law? OQ57407
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I thank the Counsel General for that answer, and he'll know that, during the pandemic, we've seen a real shift to using online services to allow people to access justice across Wales. It's out of necessity, and it has provided some opportunities. Without it…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
4. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of digital technology on access to justice in Wales? OQ57410
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice
Minister, as you say, many of our constituents throughout the whole of Wales are now really experiencing a day-to-day cost-of-living crisis. They're making choices—genuinely—between heating and eating, either feeding themselves or feeding the prepayment…
