Welsh Labour

Speeches and questions

Speeches and questions in Plenary and in committees, newest first. The Llywydd's and deputies' chairing of Plenary is left out.

2,342 speeches and questions

29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Can I start with the renting homes Act? Because one of my first tasks, I think, as taking, I suppose, stewardship of the legislative programme committee was to ensure that what we did do was catch up with all the implementation, because the implementation of…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, it's a very good question, and I don't think there is a very simple answer. I think the starting point is what codification is, and codification is really, I suppose you'd say, a sort of mechanism that's designed to retain the order that you eventually…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I'm certainly happy to explore that further. It is an important area of discussion.
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, this is a fair point. [Interruption.] No, this is a fair point. There are quid pro quos in terms of, within the five-year term, what do you want to deliver, how can you best deliver it et cetera, what are the demands on that particular delivery? And…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
There is always the option in terms of we take the whole of an area and we do it within our own legislative programme, and you fit that within the programme as it is. But you'll know as well as I do that the position that the Minister's taken on this is that…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, you're right, there are those circumstances. Let's take the issue of leasehold reform. One of the challenges there is that there are things that we can do, certainly things we can do in terms of the future positions with regard to leasehold reforms, but…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
No, no. The scrutiny is, of course, that the Government recommends a position on giving legislative consent and the Senedd has the opportunity to debate that and to actually reject it. But, the point you're making is, of course, there isn't the scrutiny of…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, there is the—
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
The point you make is a fair one. I don't think it's a deliberate choice to try and avoid scrutiny. I mean, there is scrutiny within the LCM process, but, of course, the point you're—
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think the answer to that is that that is certainly the case. When you have a very substantial legislative programme being undertaken by the UK Government that then intrudes, in many ways, into devolved areas—. So, each of those pieces of legislation…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. I'm afraid the answer is incomplete, but it's incomplete because we don't know, but we're trying to find out and it is one of those things that I'm sure is being raised at a very senior level, and there will be further discussions about that, because…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. Well, firstly, thanks for that very, very detailed question, and you are absolutely right about the contradictions that exist in not only the legislative process vis-à-vis the Senedd and London, and then also then the comments of the Lord Chief Justice…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, listen, the answer is 'I do', and I think it would be a contradiction in terms, wouldn't it, to say a consolidation Bill is of urgency, because the very nature of it, what it is doing, is pulling together the legislation to put it into a structure…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think—. I'm afraid that last point you make is certainly a very valid one—that we also do look at where are the quick wins, where are the things where we can get the consolidation programme moving and under way. Because it's not a—. The programme…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the next two topics I'll be looking at, really, at the start of the new year, and looking at it in the context of the totality of the legislative programme, and, of course, as you know, the demand on legislative resources is an enormous one. It's…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
The answer is that, as far as the historic environment Bill, that is completely clear. We're looking forward to bringing the planning Bill forward as soon as is possible. The reason why it's not quite as simple as being precise as to when it's coming is…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Thank you for the question. Historic environment, of course, was one of the first of the consolidation Bills identified. I think we're on course for that to be brought forward for the beginning of the summer. I'm hoping, by the end of May, beginning of June…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
If I can say, Chair, one of the advantages of the approach that we've adopted, whereby, within our legislation, I have to report every year, is that there will be an annual review, so it will actually be a measurement from year to year in terms of the…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I will certainly want to look at that process in three to six months in terms of when that further bulk of work has been done. Perhaps I might go over to Claire, who's been doing much of this work in terms of the update on it.
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
That's actually quite difficult to do, because it's partly dependent on the actual scale of the work and the programme of work in terms of the consolidation. As a way of getting to it is, of course—. I'm sure Members will have seen in the past the draft…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the answer to that is 'yes'. It is easier to give that answer than the actual delivery of it, because we want legislation to be—. Well, we want it within a context that accessibility will be different for different people. For the lawyer, perhaps for…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the main way it's achieved is, firstly, by the fact that the underlying objectives of the accessibility programme are outlined and they are there, and Ministers and departments, obviously, are aware of that programme. But, of course, in respect of each…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, firstly, thank you for the question and, of course, accessibility really goes to the heart, I think, of all we want to do and achieve legislatively, and that is access, really, for all—for the lawyer, for the academic, for the citizen. But in achieving…
29 November 2021Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Codes of Welsh law programme and proposals for the accessibility of Welsh law: Evidence session with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Perhaps if I ask Claire Fife and Dylan Hughes to introduce themselves.
24 November 2021Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, thank you for those supplementary comments and the question. It's fair to say that the Welsh Government agrees with the 2005 Hirst judgment in the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the UK was in breach of the European convention on human…