, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes, indeed. Thank you very much. Let's go on, then, to Alun.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you very much indeed. You've raised a number of important issues there that I think we can come back to in future: the absence of a head of government from the top tier, as you referred to it, obviously there are particular circumstances applying to…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you, Adam. I really appreciate that. We'll go on for now then to Sam.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Adam, just to say, my apologies as Chair here. When we had this long horizon of two hours scoped out in front of us, we thought we could carry on forever. I think we'll have to go on for about four hours though if we carry on, and it's my fault. We might be…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you. Sorry, Adam, back to you.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Adam, I wonder if I could just interject on one part of the response of the Counsel General then. You mentioned the issue of if this were to be done even overnight, with the political will to make it happen, then we'd be lacking the resource here. By that…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
That's excellent. Thank you very much. And when you do do, we always welcome—sorry, there was a Welshism there, 'when you do do'—when you do produce the reports on the communiques from the inter-ministerial groups, we always welcome the greater level of…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Just very briefly, then, before I pass on to colleagues, with this opening salvo of questions on justice, on the long-running issue of the disaggregation of data, I know that, in your report back in the autumn you highlighted several programmes of work that…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. There's plenty for us as a committee to get our teeth into, going forward on that, but it is interesting. The inference I take from what you're saying is that both in the commercial law sector but also in the wider legal sector as well, you are pinning…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
That's very interesting, and one of the aspects of that, looking forward, is what your assessment is of the current state of the legal sector in Wales and what can be done to address any deficiencies within it. So, what's your current take on that, Counsel…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
That's a pretty good canter through the work in progress and also what's coming to fruition. Is there anything else that we should anticipate over the next couple of years, in the remaining couple of years of this Senedd term, that you have as priorities that…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay, thank you. Alun.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay, thank you. I'll come to Alun in a moment. When you touched on an election that will be happening sometime this year or as late as next January, you were quite careful in your choice of words that the discussions can start and we might see some progress…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. And could I ask you: we'll turn to disaggregation of data in a moment, but on those matters of youth justice and probation, has there been any progression on discussions with the current UK Government on that, or, from what you're telling us, that's…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Great to have you both with us, along with the Counsel General. We've got a wide range of questions we're going to try and get through this afternoon in this two-hour session we have in front of us. We'll see how far we'll get, but we're covering a lot of…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
So, we're going to go straight into item No. 2, then, noting that we'll have one other Member joining us very soon. Item No. 2 is our first large item of the afternoon, which is a scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Prynhawn da. Good afternoon. Croeso i chi i gyd. Welcome, everybody, to this afternoon's session of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee here in the Senedd's committee room 2. We're going to, first of all, note that whilst we are quorate here…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 17: Part 5 – Deciding applications: Timetable and decision (Amendments 199, 63, 19, 20, 21, 22, 64)
We need a television match official. [Laughter.]
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 16: Part 5 – Deciding applications: Statutory policies (Amendments 62, 129, 168, 130, 152, 169, 170)
Just for clarity, in light of the amendments, how does the approach that you're taking enable that live development of the approach to it, but also, as a point of clarity, safeguard against inadvertent development as well? Because it's more live, it's more…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 16: Part 5 – Deciding applications: Statutory policies (Amendments 62, 129, 168, 130, 152, 169, 170)
Only very briefly. It would just be good to get the Minister's response on the marine issues. It's been a long-running issue and a long-running campaign to drive forward our marine planning, to get the whole thing in place. There are all the challenges over…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 13: Part 4 – Examining applications: Choice of inquiry, hearing or written procedure (Amendments 146, 165, 125, 18, 57, 147, 148)
You said 'carried'.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 13: Part 4 – Examining applications: Choice of inquiry, hearing or written procedure (Amendments 146, 165, 125, 18, 57, 147, 148)
Chair, can I just check amendment 125? What was the result of that?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 9: Part 3 – Applying for Infrastructure Consent: Pre-application procedure – s29 (Amendments 159, 4, 160, 161, 5, 117, 118, 119)
I just want to thoroughly welcome the initiative that the Minister and her officials have taken to put more detail on the face of the Bill in response, particularly, to the three amendments that are responding to LJC committee recommendations. There is a…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 8: Part 3 – Applying for Infrastructure Consent: Assistance for applicants (Amendments 115, 2, 116, 3, 52, 53)
Just to speak very briefly to amendment 115, I actually agree with the point that is being made: that our local government planning officers and planning departments are overstretched. It has been that way for a while, and it's probably a wider discussion…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Group 7: Part 2 – Requirement for Infrastructure Consent (Amendments 156, 157, 47, 48, 49, 158, 50, 51, 1)
Just a couple of things. I just want to speak in favour of the Government amendments here, because it is true that the evidence that we heard was very much about enabling those cross-border projects to proceed within the framework of the legislation, and…
