Mick Antoniw: Dirprwy Lywydd, I'm grateful for the committee's role in scrutinising primary and secondary legislation, particularly against the challenging context we have all been operating and continue to operate in since Brexit and the start of the pandemic. The committee has scrutinised an unprecedented volume of subordinate legislation. As the excellent report highlights, the committee has reported on...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I have listened to contributions to this debate with great interest. I would like to pay tribute to the committee for its work, and I'd like to thank Members for the report. Of course, as a former Chair of this committee, I have an understanding of its work, and I do acknowledge the comments made in the report on how challenging the remit of the committee...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for that very important question. Yes, I'm aware of the Manchester report. I've started reading through it and it makes very, very grim reading indeed. It is something that I know the members of the judiciary are very concerned about, and I know that it is something where there are efforts to seek how to address it. It is not an easy issue to address within a justice system that...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the question. We use every lever possible to tackle inequality in the justice system, even though it is not devolved. For example, we worked with partner organisations on the anti-racism action plan for the criminal justice system in Wales that was launched this September and that complements our own anti-racist Wales action plan.
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for raising what is a really important issue that is not often commented on. I think this is the first specific question I've had on this, and it's very important that it has been raised. What I can say generally is that when issues in terms of data collation have arisen, I know that the Welsh Government Ministers have always raised the issue in terms of the protection of that and...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you. Before the Bill was withdrawn from the Second Reading in the House of Commons, my officials assessed its impact on Wales and identified provisions requiring the Senedd’s consent. Any forthcoming data protection reforms by the UK Government will be similarly assessed.
Mick Antoniw: I thank you for some of those comments, and I certainly agree with you about the importance of focusing on the cost-of-living crisis; of course, that is the very reason why we actually think that the retained EU law Bill should, actually, be shelved or completely disregarded. But, in terms of the responsibilities we have as a Senedd and as a Welsh Government, the purpose of the consultation...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you. The Bill will declutter the statute book by removing provisions that are obsolete, spent, no longer of practical utility or effect or have no realistic chance of ever being commenced. This will make it easier and quicker for legal practitioners and others to find the information that they seek.
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for that supplementary. I think I agree with all the points that you've made. In the summer, I attended a British-Irish Association conference, and, at that, I made the point that I just think it is fundamentally wrong to try and tackle what is a significant political problem by means of legislation. You cannot legislate to solve those types of problems. The Bill is ill-judged and...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you. We've had no engagement from the UK Government before the Bill was introduced. We have some serious concerns about it, including the very broad powers it gives to Ministers of the Crown and its potential implications for the devolution settlement. We are recommending that the Senedd withhold consent for the Bill.
Mick Antoniw: Recommendation 11 was that the Senedd should be elected with statutory gender quotas. Recommendation 17 of the report was that the Welsh Government take appropriate steps to ensure that our recommendations on Senedd reform for 2026 are not put at undue risk of a Supreme Court referral. So, effectively, officials have been undertaking work to develop a detailed policy aimed at giving effect to...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the supplementary question. Perhaps I'll deal with the point you raised when you said the best person gets the job. You might want to explain to me why it is, then, that only 18 per cent of the Tory membership in this Senedd is female. I'm not sure what conclusions we should draw from that. I'll leave that there, because the special purposes committee recommendation 11 was that...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the question. The special purpose committee reported on 30 May and made 31 recommendations, including one relating to the introduction of gender quotas. At present, officials are developing policy for legislation in relation to those recommendations.
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the supplementary question. Of course, we will be monitoring very carefully what happens. I understand the Second Reading has been delayed. I had been reading through the Bill. I actually have a copy of it here. It is quite difficult to see how exactly it might work. Maybe that's why it is slowing down in the process. Another ill-thought-out, ideologically driven piece of...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the question. The Bill and its impacts in Wales are being urgently assessed by my officials. I am extremely concerned, again, by the lack of engagement on this Bill before introduction, and the limited information available on its content.
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the supplementary question. And I congratulate you for the way in which you have continued to pursue this and to pursue some of the other significant miscarriage of justice issues. I think it's very important that we debate them and we consider them on this floor. I think, first of all, the thing to say is that I think there have been a number of missed opportunities to actually...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the question. I wrote to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice about the considerable demand for a Hillsborough law in August of this year, and have previously raised the matter in meetings and correspondence with UK Government Ministers.
Mick Antoniw: Well, firstly, you are absolutely right in terms of the bill of rights, and, of course, 10 December is Human Rights Day, and I hope there will be a substantial debate in this Chamber. At one stage, it looked as though there might be a debate on Human Rights Day that didn't need to have reference to the bill of rights. We were told it was shelved. Unfortunately, one of the main instigators of...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for the question and thank you for the comments. I certainly agree with you that the content of the publication from Cardiff University contains some really significant information within it. And of course, it raises that point: one of our main concerns—I meant to mention this with the last question—is the disaggregation of data. We do need that evidence base, we do need that...
Mick Antoniw: Well, I think you've just put a very good case for the devolution of justice, because that's exactly one of the reasons why we have been doing that, why we work in partnership where we can, but you need a proper, consistent and organised devolution of responsibilities to enable us to get rid of that jagged edge within the criminal justice system. You talk about the numbers of people that are...
