Challenging the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution over the Welsh Government’s programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law, the Shadow Counsel General, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood, spoke of the public confusion which still exists over devolved powers and called for this to be addressed through the programme.
He also called on the Counsel General to ensure that improvements to the accessibility of Welsh law extends to Members of the Senedd, highlighting that currently unless MSs are on the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, they won't necessarily know secondary legislation is going through.
Speaking in the Senedd Chamber yesterday in response to the Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: ‘Codes of Welsh law: A programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law’, Mr Isherwood said:
“The pandemic has shone a light on devolved powers, with many people in Wales still confused about which set of COVID regulations were applicable to them. With less than half the electorate voting for anyone in May's Welsh General Election, it is clear that the democratic deficit in Wales is still alive and kicking, with many still not understanding where the decisions are taken, who is responsible and how much power the Welsh Government actually has over their lives.
“Therefore, how will the accessibility of Welsh law increase the public's understanding of devolved powers and devolved legislation so that they can access the correct information from the right place at the right time?”
He also said:
“When the Welsh Government makes secondary legislation, MSs won't know it's happening most of the time, because they're made via a negative procedure, rather than the affirmative procedure and so come to Plenary. Although negative procedure secondary legislation is necessary to fill in procedural gaps in primary legislation, MSs won't necessarily know this is going through unless they're on the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee.
“It is this Welsh Parliament that makes law, and leaving it to Committee to grumble about it after Welsh Government has made it via negative procedure isn't satisfactory. What assurance can you therefore provide regarding the issue raised by our excellent former colleague Suzy Davies MS during the Stage 4 debate on the Legislation (Wales) Bill, when she said, 'I hope, Counsel General, you'll also take on board that accessibility includes accessibility for AMs' - now MSs - 'and to consider perhaps better ways of bringing forward negative procedure secondary legislation to the attention of Assembly Members' - Members of the Senedd - 'bearing in mind that we are deemed to consent to that, so it's always good at least to be able to know it exists'.”
Mr Isherwood also questioned the Counsel General over the total financial cost of the accessibility programme over the five-year period and asked what demand there has been from the public for making the Legislation.gov.uk website more accessible, adding “or is this just something that will benefit the legal sector at greater cost to the public purse?”
