, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for your question. Decisions on the constitutional future of Wales are a matter for the people of Wales to determine through this democratically elected Senedd. We established the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, listen, I agree with all the points that you've made. And I'd make this point as well: much of the legislation that has come into place, which is to do with facility time, is legislation that is agreed to be sound and purposeful across political…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for the question, and part of it I certainly agree with. The legislation that we passed—the Trade Union (Wales) Act 2017—of course went through all the correct processes in this Chamber. And of course, once legislation is passed here, it has to be…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for the question. The UK Government’s announcement of its intention to repeal the Trade Union (Wales) Act 2017 is yet another example of its contempt for the devolution settlement, its disrespect for this democratically elected Senedd, and its…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, thank you for that very pejorative question, and I will give a perhaps less pejorative answer to it. The points you make about Brexit, I don't think there's any real dispute for fair-minded, fair-thinking people that Brexit has not been good for Wales…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the first thing, many of those changes are dependent on a change in Government. I suppose I can say that that is looking increasingly likely day by day, and I look forward to working with the next Labour Government sooner rather than later—perhaps…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Of course, I met recently with the Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg in order to talk about the issue of retained EU law, which I think your question was beginning to identify. And of course, the Minister for Brexit opportunities, and if a book were written about…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the first bit of advice I'd give is to maintain the importance of international law and the rule of law. The second bit of advice I'd give is to oppose and not to support any bits of legislation that undermine those principles, one of them would be to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, thank you for the question. You do raise a very serious and a very important point, and again I'd say very constructively. We dealt with some of the issues arising from the reform of tribunals in, of course, our 'Delivering Justice for Wales' paper…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I can help the Member by saying that a referendum for independence is a matter that is clearly important to the Scottish Government and was raised by them during the last Scottish Parliament elections. The reference by the Lord Advocate was served on me…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for the question. None.
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for those supplementary points and question. Our view is that the whole justice system, and legal aid in particular, has been chronically underfunded for some time, and Wales is suffering, in fact, disproportionately. We have had, of course, the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for the question. Court closures in Wales, restrictions on sitting days, a dwindling supply of barristers willing to enter or remain working in a chronically underfunded profession, together with court backlogs, all contribute to making the criminal…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
Can I thank the Member for those very supportive comments? I certainly agree with all those comments about the excitement. In fact, I could see the excitement rippling through the Chamber as I stood up to speak and Members exited the room. It's in the very…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
I thank the Member for those comments, and I look forward to working with all Members, and particularly with the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee who will be scrutinising this particular piece of legislation. Of course, it will not have gone…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
The consolidation brings in a number of pieces of legislation that go back well before devolution, but as you'll see from section 1 of the Bill, which provides an overview, it sets out, really, what the legislation contains, but also what the objective and…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
Can I thank you for those questions? I also welcome the journey through our history, which is always of considerable interest. The legislation, this consolidation Bill—. Just, firstly, to deal with the issue of reform, you're absolutely right, this particular…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
Consolidation is not a mechanical exercise of simply copying existing provisions into a new Bill with an occasional tweak. Rather, the current law has been carefully examined to understand its intent and application so it can be restated without altering its…
, Plenary
Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill
Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Today marks another historic step in our nation’s law-making journey. This is the first consolidation Bill brought forward as part of the Welsh Government's programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. With this legislation…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I had, last year, a meeting with the Lord Chief Justice and with the First Minister, where we were really talking about that role, and, of course, we were very glad of the work of Wyn Williams as president of the tribunals, but also the extension to his term…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Not myself. I think the Minister has.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
We are already very engaged with the legal sector in respect of issues around training, over legal apprenticeships and so on and support for that, and the support that we've been giving in terms of developments around cyber technology, and so on. So, that's…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think it's in respect of the year 2 legislation. You don't want to give all your presents away in one go. [Laughter.]
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
The First Minister makes the statements on the legislative programme. He is due to make a statement on 5 July on the legislative programme, but you note within the justice paper that there is a statement that we will be legislating. It's a question as to how…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes. Well, you're right, I thought we'd made progress with Lord Wolfson, when he was the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, and had a number of very positive meetings with the Minister for Social Justice and me, and, importantly, whereas the previous…
