, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes. The start of it—. Of course, it is a Ministry of Justice pilot, one, of course, that would probably not have taken place if it wasn't for the fact that Welsh Government has put in a substantial amount of money in order to enable it to happen, and there…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the answer is 'yes'. This is part of a system that, if we go down this road, I think will naturally grow, because where you have a legislature and you have the range of devolved responsibilities that we have, then the judicial framework has to represent…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes, I think the issue—. We're looking positively about a further short extension et cetera, that will enable us to take us into that session where we can look at the legislation, the implementation of the reforms, and then the process that would need to take…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Absolutely. My apologies.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I suppose all that's proper for me to say at the moment is, of course, we're well aware of those issues and that discussion on the way. Sir Wyn Williams will be with us for a while yet, but, of course, you're right that we have to have in place a…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I see no major obstacles to that. There are issues around that we want to think very carefully about, about the structure, for example, of the Welsh Tribunals board. Of course, when I was on my recent visit to Scotland, I met with the president of the Court…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes. You're right in all of those—that we could see the direction that we anticipated it was going. I think it would have been wrong to start making pronouncements on it when the Law Commission was actually doing what is a very significant and, I think, a…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think the policing board that you refer to is one that is up and running, that is convened by the Minister for Social Justice, and it’s one where my intention is to attend regularly for all the reasons I’ve given in terms of joint and co-operative…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think what I can say is that since coming in to the position I hold I've actually been very impressed by the level of engagement that there is with the judiciary and how keen they are. And I say it in a number of areas. So, for example, myself and the…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think, for me, the Cabinet sub-committee, which again is still in relatively early days, is going to be the mechanism by which that does get pulled together. And I think the idea of how you present an annual or comprehensive justice report on progress is…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, you're right. I mean, there's a whole series of reporting mechanisms. It's about bringing them all together, and again this will be something that I think will emerge in the spring when we launch the strategy. Just in terms of general reporting, though…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
That's a very good point, and that, in many ways, is the major challenge with all of these, isn't it? It's an area, of course, where I think there's considerable energy and work going on from the Minister for Social Justice's work, because the engagement…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thanks for that question. Perhaps just to follow on from that, of course, part of the funding will go towards the work that is ongoing at the moment that's preparing for the spring, I think, launch of those areas I spoke about earlier, which are all related…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think what is allocated—I'll bring James in in a little bit on that in terms of what the process is in terms of that ongoing work, but it's basically work in terms of developments and review of issues that were raised by the justice commission to be brought…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
On the first thing, the justice timetable or framework, the objective there is for the spring, and that work is under way at the moment. In terms of the consultation on the dashboards and the progress there, I wonder, James, if perhaps you can provide a bit…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for that. I suppose the starting point is, of course, that the areas that are covered by the whole series of recommendations of the justice commission are very extensive. They go from the whole area of social justice to legislative justice and all…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, you make very, very good points, and, to some extent, I don't have a definitive answer or solution to those points because they are valid points. I suppose what is interesting about the agreement, though, of course, is that there are certain independent…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for that. I think it has been a most important review, and I think it is one that is well worth considerable scrutiny. As you know, the issue of dysfunction and relations across the four nations of the UK has been a difficult one. The background, as…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Scrutiny session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Yes, I'm happy for you to proceed straight into questions.
, Plenary
90-second Statements
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. On Saturday 8 January this year, Hanef Bhamjee OBE passed away in hospital surrounded by the love and care of members of his family. During the past four decades, I can think of no-one who has done as much as Hanef for the cause of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Can I first of all say that this was raised by Lord Frost, who has since resigned from Government? We had been informed at official level that the UK Government intended to fully engage with the devolved Governments in conducting their review of retained EU…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for your question. The UK Government has informed Welsh Government that it intends to fully engage with the devolved Governments in conducting its review of retained EU law. I await further information with regard to that review and how the UK…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for the supplementary. I mean, I can probably respond by perhaps quoting what the chief executive of Amnesty International said. This is a body that I think has support across political parties and incredible international status. Sacha Deshmukh…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for your question. The proposals in the consultation on the Human Rights Act 1998 are UK Government ones. They do not reflect the views of Welsh Government. My officials and I, and in conjunction with the Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt, are…
