7. 7. Statement: The Legislative Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:54 pm on 28 June 2016.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 4:54, 28 June 2016

It’s quite correct, of course, when the Member says that there is a direct link between health and education when it comes to additional learning needs. We know, for example, that with looked-after children, to give an example, merely looking at their education achievement in isolation from everything else is never the way to work, which is why we’ve taken the holistic approach that we have. But, yes, of course, the legislation will look to be as realistic and as comprehensive as possible.

In terms of the trade union Bill, of course, on these benches we have an ideological objection to what that Bill contains, but there is a wider constitutional issue here, and that is that the elements of the trade union Bill that we will look to repeal, we believe, are firmly within our devolved powers—there's a constitutional issue as well. On top of that, we know that the UK Government has been advised by lawyers that’s the case as well, because we saw that the legal advice was leaked—not by us, of course, but by others—and the UK Government was told that they had a weak case in arguing that this was not within devolved competence. So, regardless of the important issue here in terms of our view of the Bill itself, there's a constitutional issue, in that we've taken the view that this is a matter for the Assembly to decide and not Parliament.