6. Debate on the Finance Committee report: Inquiry into the financial estimates accompanying legislation

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:40 pm on 24 January 2018.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 4:40, 24 January 2018

I won't repeat too much of the debate. I simply want to pick up a couple of themes that I think were quite important and to thank Nick Ramsay and Mike Hedges also for participating in the debate. I think what we really want to see, at least conceive of, is that it would be possible for a Bill to be supported at Stage 1 here—for all parties to support it, potentially—but by the time it got to Stage 2, by the time we've gone through this process, by the time amendments have been made and changes have been made and more understanding has been gained, it would be conceivable not to proceed with that Bill because the cost-benefit analysis had changed. I think we need to at least provide Assembly Members with enough tools and information to allow them to make that judgment. We should at all stages of the—this is why we have stages, if I may say so, Deputy Presiding Officer. It is possible not to proceed with a Bill after certain stages. Once it goes past Stage 1, it doesn't mean it's on some kind of rollercoaster and must go to the end. It is possible, because we have these stages, to reconsider the nature of a Bill. That would clearly—well, probably—be a Bill that hadn't gone through the right process at some stage, but we must at least make sure that our processes are robust enough to allow that to happen, and indeed to allow new facts to emerge that change the way we look at the Bill.

The Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, as it is now, is a very good example of where that could have happened. It didn't in the end because, I think, to be frank, the other issue that the Government does not accept as part of the RIA—and I see where the Government is coming from, but of course in the case of that Bill, as it was then, the Government had made a financial commitment, not in the RIA but a general policy financial commitment, which overcame any doubts that people had around the details of the financial detail of the Bill.

The second theme that I think is important to remember is that, although this is a Finance Committee report and recommendation and a Finance Committee debate with a little additional input, it really underlines how important stakeholder involvement is in preparing our Bills. [Inaudible.]—says a tap on the back; I was saying we had a rod for my own back earlier on, but a tap on the back now. Having been elsewhere and looked at Bills, we do things better here. Bills that begin in the Assembly have more information around them, more impact analysis, more understanding of the financial impact than a Bill that would go through Westminster, for example. So, we are able to use that in a way that enriches our stakeholder consultation, the way they come in—and other committees as well, as with Llyr's example. Other committees are feeding in; it's not just the Finance Committee that should be looking at that aspect of the Bill.

Can I just conclude by thanking the Cabinet Secretary, certainly for accepting just about every one of the recommendations? I understand why he's not persuaded of the one, although that's something to keep under review in terms of understanding who picks up the costs, but I particularly want to thank him for setting out today how he's taken these recommendations through the process, the internal process, of Welsh Government. A state of readiness sounds like an appropriate way to think of any Bill that's presented to this Assembly, and I hope that this report has helped inform and ensure that any Bill presented is in a state of readiness and is ready to be debated by the whole legislature.