Shadow Counsel General in the Senedd, Mark Isherwood MS, has emphasised the need for a public awareness campaign to inform people about the changes which will result from the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill.
Responding to yesterday’s Statement on the Bill by the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery, Mr Isherwood also quoted the Law Society who have said that in order to fulfil the aims of the Bill, resources must be put into “supporting the legal sector both in Wales and cross-border to understand the changes and how these may affect their way of working”.
He said:
“The Law Society have stated that the purpose of the Bill to ‘bring together and formalise: the procedural arrangements for making Welsh subordinate legislation; and the requirements for publishing Acts of Senedd Cymru and Welsh statutory instruments, and other subordinate legislation that is not made by statutory instrument’ is not only going to help their members working in Wales, but also their members who work cross border on Welsh matters, for example a London firm, working for a Welsh client to buy a property in Wales.
“More widely, though, how will this operate where it intersects with both UK law applicable in Wales and Welsh residents operating under the legal system in England?”
He added:
“The Law Society have also stated that improving the accessibility of Welsh law is going to be beneficial in increasing public awareness on law. They added, however, that it can really only be successful if it comes with a public awareness campaign, as people need to be informed about what is happening.
“It has the potential to be a good education campaign for the rule of law, but only if followed with the publicization that it deserves. So what plans are being made to maximise this opportunity from the Bill? In other words, 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?
“The Bill itself has noble aims. The Law Society states, however, that it will only fulfil them if resource is put into supporting the legal sector both in Wales and cross-border to understand the changes and how these may affect their way of working.
“So what assessment has the Welsh Government therefore made of the financial impact of this proposed legislation; what, if any resource will it be providing to support the legal sector to understand and implement these changes; and how does the Counsel General plan to support and work with the legal sectors in both England and Wales throughout the passage of the Bill?”
He added:
“Unless Members of the Senedd sit on the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, they won't necessarily know that the Welsh Government is making subordinate legislation when it is made via the negative procedure, rather than the affirmative procedure when it comes to Plenary.
“Finally, therefore, what consideration will you give to better ways of bringing negative procedure subordinate legislation to the attention of Members of the Senedd, bearing in mind that we are deemed to consent to this?”