15 February 2022

 

Dear Mick

Assisting the Committee in its future work planning

Thank you for appearing once again before the Committee on 31 January to discuss common frameworks and the UK Government’s review of retained EU law.

These are two important issues for the committee, alongside our scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s  primary and secondary legislation, and also legislative consent memoranda. Given this large volume of legislative scrutiny that sits alongside our scrutiny of policy areas within our remit, forward work planning is essential.

You will be aware of our concerns in relation to the volume of legislative consent memoranda for UK Bills that have been laid before the Senedd by the Welsh Government, and subsequently referred to us for scrutiny.

In order to assist with planning for this aspect of our future scrutiny work, we would therefore be grateful if you could:

§    share your expectation of the extent to which the current volume of memoranda being laid will continue, considering the forthcoming new UK Parliament session and subsequent Queen’s Speech;

§    commit to listing those UK Government Bills (once details are publicly available) that the Welsh Government intends to use as legislative vehicles to give effect to its policy agenda, including in line with its Programme for government;

§    explain how you intend to routinely notify us of your decision to use future UK Government Bills which are likely to be the subject of legislative consent memoranda, and the point at which you start working with the UK Government.

In the same vein, we would be grateful if you could explain how you intend to provide the Committee with updates on other developments relating to your responsibilities as Counsel General and Minister of the Constitution.

We would welcome an initial response by 2 March, however we acknowledge that you may not be able to provide specific detail on future Bills until the UK Government announces its legislative programme for the new UK Parliament session.

We look forward to hear your response, and to continue working constructively together.

Yours sincerely,

Huw Irranca-Davies
Chair