Group 1: Duty to promote public awareness (Amendments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:58 pm on 21 January 2020.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 5:58, 21 January 2020

You could follow that through. I would argue that the change in the law on organ donation was actually much bigger in terms of its influence on people's practice than this is. But that said, the Government—if we just look at the evidence, and the most concrete piece of evidence is in the budget. We have a saying in Welsh, 'Diwedd y gân yw'r geiniog'—at the end of the song comes the penny. And the Government is committing, in this year's draft budget, to a £600,000 campaign to raise awareness. I'm aware, and I'm grateful to the Deputy Minister for her information in this regard, that they are consulting with focus groups, with people from minority communities, people from faith groups, to ensure that the messages get out in the most appropriate way to all parents who might need them. I don't see the necessity, therefore, to have it on the face of the Act. I would, in my contribution here, ask the Minister to assure us that, of course, this information will be made available bilingually, but I would make a plea for the design to be bilingual from the beginning, and for the Welsh information not just to be a translation of the information in English, just because that's usually pretty clumsy.

I have to say, Llywydd, when comparable legislation was introduced in the Republic of Ireland, the Government there didn't feel the need to do any kind of public awareness raising, because the debate had been extensively exercised in the press, and everybody was aware of the change in the law. From my own personal perspective, I can think of other things that the Government might usefully do with their £600,000, but I think that the benches opposite should acknowledge the commitment that the Minister is showing in this regard.

I'll turn briefly to the other groups of amendments, though I will return to them at the appropriate time. Group 2, about reporting requirements, again, I think the Government is generous in agreeing to accept this; it isn't necessarily usual to set down on the face of legislation two different time frames for reporting back, but I think, in doing so, the Deputy Minister is acknowledging that there are real concerns, and we do need to make sure that this legislation is working effectively and that there aren't any unintended consequences.

Again, group 3, with regard to sufficient funding, well, I would submit, and I think this is the Government's position, that there's unlikely to be much increased cost, because we are not going to see masses and masses of parents going through systems that they would not otherwise go through, but if there are additional costs, the Government has committed to the appropriate public bodies to meet those, and, again, we don't see the need to put this on the face of the Bill.

The amendment in group 4 is unnecessary, because, of course, this Assembly can always amend or repeal legislation if the majority of us decide that it is inappropriate.

And when it comes to the fifth group of amendments, amendment 10, the effect of this amendment, were we to pass it, would be to place in the hands of non-devolved bodies—much as we might wish these criminal justice bodies were devolved, it would place into the hands of non-devolved bodies the power to decide when or whether this piece of legislation is to be enacted.

Now, it is a matter, Llywydd, for this Chamber, not perhaps for me to say, whether this is deliberate on the part of the Conservatives—we've seen examples of them seeming to want to roll back devolution. These matters, Llywydd, are clearly devolved, and that is how they should stay. Of course it is right for the Welsh Government to be negotiating with the appropriate non-devolved criminal justice bodies and with the police to ensure that this legislation is appropriately implemented; it is not right to allow the Home Office to decide whether it gets implemented at all.

Llywydd, I look forward to the rest of this debate.