Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:39 pm on 21 September 2021.
Could I thank the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee for those comments? Of course, the role of the committee in the actual scrutiny, not just of the integrity of legislation, but all the underlying principles and the issues of accessibility, I think, is very fundamental. As this legislature, this Parliament has begun to mature, effectively, that committee has become a legislation and constitution committee in the traditional sense, and has a very, very important role, particularly in a Parliament that doesn’t have a second chamber.
On the issue of consolidation, of course, it had been something that had been discussed for quite some time. I think we all would give credit to a former Member of this Senedd, David Melding, who did an awful lot in terms of the continual promotion of the need for consolidation. Obviously, he’s not here today to actually see the progress that is being made on this first report that has actually been introduced.
There are, of course, a number of areas and challenges, not just in terms of the accessibility, but the accessibility and the way it fits in within the quality of law, and the jurisprudence of law—that is the issues around the justice of law. And, of course, there will be issues that will be emerging that are not specifically within this accessibility but I think are relevant, and that is going to be challenges that there will be in respect of human rights, the rule of law, issues of judicial review, and the issue of standards that we may wish to maintain, and the issues of how those interreact with the pressures that may come from parliaments elsewhere. The resources issue is one that is, obviously, ongoing, and significant in terms of all the demands that there are.
I was very impressed with some of the information I was provided about the way in which judicial training is changing, and now specifically looking at areas of Welsh law, particularly, for example, areas of housing and so on, and, of course, the issue that now, of course, administrative court hearings will take place within Wales, which is absolutely right. Of course, the one area that I didn’t mention is the area of the Welsh tribunal reform, and the work the Law Commission are doing there. I think that is part and parcel of the jigsaw of the developing Welsh legislature. Thank you, Llywydd.