7. What consideration has the Welsh Government given to the need for inter-parliamentary reforms in light of the changes to inter-governmental relations at a UK level? OQ57602

Thank you for that. Inter-parliamentary arrangements are a matter for the Parliaments themselves. We are committed to strengthening transparency, scrutiny and accountability for inter-governmental relations. We have a formal inter-governmental review agreement with the Senedd, which includes the publication of an annual report.

The inter-governmental reforms do hold out some positive news, I think. If they can be made to be embedded in both the tone of respect but also the machinery of Government that they genuinely are meaningful between Governments, then they hold out some real hope for the future. But what we do know, of course, is that that strengthening of the inter-governmental machinery means that there is a need to have greater scrutiny of what's going on at that level. So, I wonder—and I do accept entirely what the Counsel General says, that this is a matter for Parliaments—would he personally, with his experience, support the concept that there now needs to be an equal focus on inter-parliamentary reform so that the scrutiny is up to the job of the inter-governmental reform? And that could be taken forward by intra-committee work across the nations, by the intra-parliamentary fora that we are reconstituting or, indeed—and with great respect to my colleague sitting opposite—by the Speakers' convention as well if they wanted to turn their attention to inter-parliamentary reform. 

Thank you, and you're absolutely right, and I'm glad that the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee is paying close attention to this, because, as these relations develop and deal with really significant matters that impact on people's lives, it is very important that there is solid, constructive and strategic scrutiny. The one side to it here, of course, is that there is the inter-institutional agreement between the Welsh Government and the committee that you chair. That is important. I think there's a recognition from Welsh Government of the importance of transparency and scrutiny of these issues as well.

But, can I comment then on the inter-parliamentary forum, because I actually think—? As you know, I was previously a member of that, and I know it came into existence in connection with Brexit, and so on. It seems to me that is a potential forum that offers the opportunity for the creation of a pan-parliamentary scrutiny committee that could actually operate very constructively across the constitution committees and legislation committees, whether it be the House of Lords, whether it be the constitution committees, and so on. I think that is a very interesting possibility, and I'm sure that's something that I imagine the inter-parliamentary forum, which, as you say, is being reset up, is going to look at how it would fit within that particular role.