In accordance with our work on scrutiny of all Bills, the CLA Committee considered matters relating to the competence of the Assembly, the proposed use of subordinate legislation, and other matters that we consider to be relevant to the quality of the legislation.

For a Bill to be within legislative competence of the National Assembly, the Government of Wales Act requires all of its provisions to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. We raised this issue with the Deputy Minister during our evidence session, in particular with regard to balancing the rights of the child to be protected and the rights of parents to discipline a child.

We welcome the Deputy Minister’s responses to the questions that we posed, and we note the information contained within the equality impact assessment that covers the relevant articles of the ECHR. 

However, we have consistently maintained that the Welsh Government should ensure that information relating to legislative competence set out in the explanatory memoranda contain sufficient detail to ensure transparency and to enable effective scrutiny of Bills. 

We believe that a fuller explanation of the assessments undertaken in relation to human rights should be included within the explanatory memoranda. We note the Deputy Minister’s commitment to review the balance between what is in the EM and the impact assessments that were undertaken and published on the Welsh Government’s website.

I’d like to be clear that this is not an attempt to undermine the assessments of legislative competence made by the Welsh Government. Our approach is to ensure that these matters are laid out in a coherent, transparent and accessible way to facilitate the scrutiny process and to enhance understanding among citizens.

We noted that the Bill contains one delegated power which takes the form of an Order. The Order will appoint the date on which the provisions of the Bill come into force, and will not be subject to a scrutiny procedure. While we are therefore content with the balance between what is on the face of the Bill and what is left to subordinate legislation, we do note that the Order may make transitional, transitory or saving provisions. In light of that, our report suggests that our successor committee in the sixth Assembly should carefully consider the use made of this commencement power.

I will now move on to our two recommendations. The Crown Prosecution Service, as the principal public prosecuting service for England and Wales, provides charging advice in more serious or complex cases than that is based on the code for Crown prosecutors and prosecution guidance. We agree with the Deputy Minister that revised Crown Prosecution Service charging standard guidance will be extremely important in delivering the Bill’s objectives.

On that basis, our first recommendation suggests that the Deputy Minister should work with the CPS and ensure that the standard charging guidance, as well as any associated guidance, should be available to Assembly Members in draft format ahead of Stage 3 proceedings on the Bill. We note that the Deputy Minister, while accepting the principle of this recommendation, has stated that she is unable to influence the CPS on the development or timing of their guidance.

Finally, we took note of the Deputy Minister’s intention to hold a post-implementation review. In our view, the Bill should require Welsh Ministers to evaluate its effectiveness in delivering the policy objectives. We draw attention to other Welsh Acts that include provisions requiring post-implementation evaluation, for example the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Act 2014 and the Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018.

Our second recommendation, therefore, is that the Bill should be amended to require Welsh Ministers to undertake a post-implementation evaluation of the Bill. We suggest that such an evaluation should take place within three years of the legislation coming into force, and that Welsh Ministers should report their findings to the National Assembly.

We welcome the Deputy Minister’s statement that she is willing to bring forward an amendment to bring effect to this recommendation. We note, however, that this evaluation will take place within a period of five years rather than three years, as set out in our recommendation. Thank you.