Huw Irranca-Davies: I welcome this debate this afternoon. It will not come as any surprise that, as Chair of the committee with constitutional matters as a core part of its remit, I am contributing today. As a committee, we have not considered the report in detail, but we have discussed it briefly last week in advance of today's statement. My focus this afternoon will be to highlight matters within the interim...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I note the commission’s conclusion that there are, 'significant problems with the way Wales is currently governed', and that it has identified 10 immediate pressure points on the current settlement. Now, it’s interesting that these mainly relate to 'relations between the UK and Welsh governments'— a view that indeed chimes with some of our observations as a committee during our scrutiny...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Brynle Williams, my apologies.
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Counsel General, the Minister, like me, will have been on many protests of different types over the years. And, in fact, over the decades, and indeed over generations and centuries, in Wales, there has been a vigorous tradition of public protest, and it's right that there should have been. From the earliest Greenham Common protestors drawn from Wales, including my own late friend and...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank the Counsel General for that answer and, indeed, there has been progress, working with partners in the legal profession, with the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, with colleges and further education providers over the last few years to get to the point where we do now have foundation stage level 3 and advanced stage level 5 of the new CILEX professional qualification, the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 2. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the impact of the apprenticeship levy on legal training in Wales? OQ59002
Huw Irranca-Davies: 5. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the impact of the UK Government's Public Order Bill on Wales? OQ59004
Huw Irranca-Davies: What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Finance and Local Government on the impact of the draft budget on social justice?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you once again, Llywydd. We also considered these regulations on 16 January and our report is included with this afternoon’s agenda to inform this debate.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Our report on these regulations contains two merits points. I will start with the second, which noted that there had been no consultation on the regulations. In particular, we noted a paragraph in the explanatory memorandum accompanying the regulations that states that as temporary permission to stay is a product of reserved UK Government policy—namely immigration—the Welsh Government did...
Huw Irranca-Davies: We considered these regulations on 16 January and our report has been laid to inform Members in this afternoon’s debate.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Our report on these regulations contains three merits points, and I thank the Minister very much for providing a timely response. I'm going to focus on our third merits point, which I'm going to chalk up as a small but very important piece of progress in terms of the Welsh language and actually having Welsh and English legislation and regulations at the same time. Because it noted that the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: It's good to see that already today colleagues have been raising the issue of the effect on businesses of the cliff edge at the end of March of the drop in support for energy prices. Both Vikki and Jayne Bryant have raised this. I think they're right in raising the fact of the impact of this upon things such as retail outlets, local pubs and clubs, and so on—that's absolutely right. But I...
Huw Irranca-Davies: First Minister, thanks for that answer. If the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill proceeds as it is now, and on the arbitrary timescale set by the UK Government, then by December next year, we will see thousands upon thousands of regulations covering essential environmental and employment protections and much more, many of which fall directly within devolved competence, being...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 6. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of the UK Government’s legislative programme on Wales? OQ59005
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much, Janet, for giving me a minute to contribute in a very interesting debate. There are a couple of early-stage proposals within the Bridgend area, actually, for hydrogen projects, green hydrogen projects. And indeed, hydrogen might well have a role to play in our transitioning to a greener economy. But I want to make two points. The first is that we have to make sure that...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Llywydd, we recognise the importance of the Bill as the first of its kind for the Senedd and for Welsh law, not least because of the practical impact that it will have in making Welsh law available in both official languages, in improving accessibility to the law that applies in Wales, and in contributing to better access to justice in Wales.
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Bill marks the start of this Welsh Government’s ambitious plans for the consolidation of Welsh law, and it is indeed an endeavour that should be welcomed by this Senedd. Diolch yn fawr iawn.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Llywydd. Hello, again. [Laughter.] Neil Diamond, I think—'Hello Again'.
Huw Irranca-Davies: I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate as we, the Senedd, undertake our first consideration of a Welsh consolidation Bill, proposed by the Welsh Government, on Welsh historic environment law.
