3. Will the Counsel General make a statement on the work of the Commission on Justice in Wales? OAQ54513

The Commission on Justice in Wales is due to publish its report on Thursday 24 October, and I look forward to reading the report.

Diolch. The Commission on Justice in Wales has published its recommendation regarding the law council for Wales. Its intended aims are to be commended, especially the promoting of assisting students in their education and training as future practitioners. The details of the proposed council highlight that it will help Welsh law schools to provide their students with the necessary education and training to thrive in practice. Now, according to UCAS, this academic year 890 undergraduate students from Wales started law courses across the UK. For example, universities such as Chester, Birmingham and Bristol are key centres for students who then go on to practice in Wales. Will you clarify whether the commission will have an influence on education and practice outside of Wales, and, if not, explain whether you accept that this is potentially negative news for awareness of Welsh law that does need addressing? 

Well, as I say, in relation to the particular recommendations that the commission will be making, we await to see what those recommendations are. I think it would be inappropriate to prejudge the work of an independent commission in that sense. She makes an important point about where students study the law and where they end up practising. She'll also know, I think, that Welsh law schools teach law to students from all over the UK and across the world. So, this is a matter where people study inside and outside Wales and practice in a number of settings.

But the point in relation to familiarity with Welsh law, which I know is at the heart of her question, is one which I'm very seized of, not least given the discussion we've had elsewhere and in this Chamber on other occasions in relation to the accessibility of Welsh law generally, and certainly in discussions I've had with the law schools, since my appointment as Counsel General, I have sought to look for opportunities to impress upon them how important it is to ensure that Welsh law plays its full part in the syllabus and prospectus of university courses, not, as it were, solely from the point of view of constitutional aspects but also the substantive law. And, as we here legislate more and more, I'm confident that the proportion of law taught in law schools in Wales that Welsh law represents will increase.   

Both the Counsel General and I, of course, gave evidence to the commission during its consideration, and, like you, I look forward to hearing its report next week. There is a fundamental issue at stake here with its work, of course, and that is about the nature of the settlement within the United Kingdom. We have addressed issues during First Minister's questions and during this session of questions to you already on these matters. Do you agree with me that it is important that, in Wales, as we look towards developing our own jurisdiction and to ensure that we have access to law as a social justice issue, but also a coherent statute book in terms of constitutional law, we look across the world for examples of how that is being achieved?

I and other Members were fortunate enough to visit Jerusalem earlier in the year and to meet with a former chief justice of Israel, where he explained how the Israeli jurisdiction grew out of the British jurisdiction following the secession of the UK mandate in Palestine, and was able to develop a jurisdiction over time of its own and take on additional powers and additional responsibilities as time grew. It appears to me that that's a very good model for Wales and a very good model that we may be able to follow.

Without prejudging the report of the commission next week, Counsel General, I'd be grateful if you could ensure that Members would have an early opportunity to debate these matters, and also ensure that we have a richer appreciation of how a Welsh jurisdiction will help us to achieve our ambitions for social justice but also ensure that we have a more coherent United Kingdom at the end of this process. 

Well, I thank the Member for that question. I will be interested in discussing further with him his reflections on the meeting and discussions he had with the former chief justice of Israel. In my capacity as Counsel General, I've looked into the question of jurisdiction with interest, and discussed in Scotland and Northern Ireland how their arrangements work and differ from ours here. I do think that the report of the Commission on Justice in Wales will operate partly as a catalyst for a richer set of discussions in this institution than perhaps we would have had to embrace in the past about questions in relation to criminal justice, broadly, and how that sits within the devolution settlement. And, in particular, the point that the Member makes about the question of jurisdiction arrangements into the future, I obviously don't wish to prejudge anything that the commission may say, but these are very important issues for us as the body of Welsh law continues to expand as we do our work.