6. Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: Interim Report of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:01 pm on 31 January 2023.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 5:01, 31 January 2023

Thank you. The terms of reference of the commission were well set out and we've been debating them on many occasions within this Chamber. I met recently with the commission, as the First Minister has, and I think they've explained, now, the process of engagement that they want to do and some of the directions of the issues they want to look at. They may want to look at these issues—financial issues, constitutional issues, governance issues and so on. 

It really is for them to determine the areas that they think are, actually, important, where the evidence they conclude and the representations they get within the framework, where that leads them. I'd be very surprised if all of those issues are not ones that are being looked at, and looked at in some detail and being engaged with. With the sort of engagement process they're having, it's inevitable that that will be the case. I think it would be a big mistake to, actually, direct and say, 'This is what you've got to do, this is how you've got to do it', et cetera. I think you have to have confidence from the wide range of people from across political parties, the different persuasions and skills of the various commissioners and experts who are there that that is what they will do.

The points you raise in terms of welfare, policing, the cost-of-living crisis, justice and so on are absolutely right. I attended, with the Minister for Social Justice, Eastwood Park women's prison in Bristol. The governor there told us that every single woman there in that prison was a victim, one way or another, of abuse, of poverty, of exploitation. When we attended, just the other day, Berwyn prison up in north Wales, 10 per cent of the prisoners are former care leavers. We met with the care leavers, many of whom have themselves become mentors to care leavers who are coming into the prison system. In discussions that we've had with Cardiff University over the recent research and publications that they've had, the suggestion is that Wales has the highest level of imprisonment of its citizens in the whole of Europe, and something like two thirds or more of those who are on probation or in prison come from black or ethnic minority backgrounds. All of those things tell you that there are really serious issues in terms of our justice system. Looking at those, and how it can be delivered better, of course, is already part of our policy.

Now, our views on that have been fed into the commission in evidence sessions, as I'm sure have the views of every other individual who's interested in the commission. That's why I keep saying, whether you agree or don't agree with it—whether you think it should be going ahead or not—it is there and it is really important that you engage with it, and that we have the most constructive engagement and consideration of all of those issues that are so important to the future of Wales and the people of Wales. It's a way of actually exploring the thinking and the views of the people of Wales.

The point, Jenny, that you made and that you've made as well is absolutely right: the quality, to some extent, is the scale and the quality of the evidence, but also the quality of the engagement that takes place. That's why it is important, not whether we're going to agree with or disagree with the outcome, and not whether we think our predetermined views are always going to be the views we're going to have and we're not going to consider anything else so inflexibly, et cetera—I'm sure that that isn't the case. And that's why I think what is happening is timely, but I think it is also fundamentally important. Aneurin Bevan said that the problem, sometimes, is that people know the price of everything but the value of nothing, and I think our democracy has a very high value, and that's the direction we're taking. Thank you.