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Building on experience Legislation and civil society in Wales

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Parliament the keystone in the arch of existing civil society. Wales ... Government White Paper on Scottish Parliament, 1998. Cymru Yfory - five principles ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Building on experience Legislation and civil society in Wales


1
Building on experience Legislation and civil
society in Wales
  • Geraint Talfan Davies
  • Chairman, IWA
  • 16 July 2009

2
Wales and Scotland
  • Scotland
  • Parliament the keystone in the arch of existing
    civil society
  • Wales
  • Assembly starts building of new arch

3
Importance of legislation
  • Determining outcomes
  • Requiring government action or attention
  • Requiring other public and/or private action
  • Reflecting and shaping public attitudes

4
Legislation - a new experience
  • Pre 1999
  • Main concern - funding and policy
    implementation
  • Legislation matters left to London HQs
  • Welsh civil societys near standing start
  • 1999-2003 - distracted by funding growth

5
Legislation - a new experience
  • Implementation - Money - Policy - Legislation
  • Welsh civil societys limited resources -
    human / financial
  • WCVA initiative - a building block
  • Part 3 powers
  • maximise complexity
  • blur accountability
  • lack transparency

6
The response to legislative opportunity
  • Civil society having difficulty engaging with
    the law-making process
  • Confusion between seeking LCOs and law-making
  • Organisations having to monitor Westminster
    and Cardiff
  • Some, especially business, opposed to
    additional burdens
  • 109 petitions presented only 8 require
    legislation
  • e.g. presumed consent for organ donation
  • banning plastic bags
  • Sustrans proposal for traffic-free routes

7
Petitions June 2007- January 2009
  • 60 Call for Assembly Government to take
    executive action
  • 20 Call for Assembly Government to pressure
    another organisation
  • 12 Deemed by Committee to be business of
    another organisation
  • 8 Calls for National Assembly to Act
  • 5 Call for National Assembly to pressure
    Assembly Government
  • 4 Deemed not to be appropriate for NAW
    involvement

8
False expectations?
  • Legislative initiative traditionally comes
    overwhelmingly from Government
  • Limitations of system
  • Concentration on policy nuggets
  • Brake on developing major programmes of
    reform

9
The response to legislative opportunity
  • Members Ballots for Legislative Competence Orders

10
Welsh and Scottish experience
  • Wales
  • Timetable for passage of LCOs unpredictable
  • Focus on nature of powers rather than their
    use
  • Confusion in public and political debate
    between powers and policy
  • Definition of Matters creates boundary issues
  • LCOs highly specific
  • Scotland
  • Government can respond more quickly
  • Few boundary issues with Westminster
  • Ability to legislate holistically across
    policy areas
  • Focus on legislative outcomes not process

11
Mental Health
  • Scotland
  • Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2003
  • Publication of draft law to Royal Assent 7
    months
  • Wales
  • Jonathan Morgan proposed LCO on mental health
  • Much more limited scope, although inspired by
    Scottish Act
  • LCO proposal introduced February 2008.
  • Seven months later approved by National
    Assembly but still awaiting approval from UK
    government departments, Cabinet Committee,
    Secretary of State for Wales, Welsh Affairs
    Committee, National Assembly again, Commons,
    Lords and the Queen

12
Carers rights and care provision
  • Scotland
  • Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001
  • Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002
  • Broad response to major policy reviews by
    Royal Commission and Parliamentary Committee
    inquiry
  • Wales
  • Helen Mary Jones proposed LCO in December
    2008
  • Limited to powers to support carers
  • LCO taken over by Welsh Assembly Government

13
Environmental protection and waste
management
  • Scotland
  • Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 deals
    with community planning, waste management,
    council tax and local government finance
  • Act covers many of the issues that the Welsh
    LCO would cover if adopted
  • Wales
  • First Minister announces proposed LCO in June
    2007
  • Would deal with sustainable waste management
    and local environmental matters
  • Proposal examined by Assembly Committee,
    reporting in November 2007
  • Revised LCO published June 2009

14
Strategic law-making opportunities of Part 4
powers
  • Integrated Transport Act
  • Creation of Transport Wales to oversee
    development of integrated system
  • Could end division of responsibility between
    Assembly and Whitehall
  • Enabling alternative models of bus ownership
  • Regulating public transport services
  • Setting requirements for accessibility

15
Strategic law-making opportunities of Part 4
powers
  • Welsh Public Health Act
  • Based on Swedish legislation
  • Addressing all determinants of public health
  • - Economic and social factors
  • - Conditions during childhood and adolescence
  • - Health in working life
  • - Opportunities for participating in society
  • All laws to be subject to public health
    assessment

16
Strategic law-making opportunities of Part 4
powers
  • Landscape Management Bill
  • Governing the use and care of all landscapes,
    not just protected areas
  • Would implement the European landscape
    convention
  • New contract between urban taxpayers and
    those who manage rural land
  • Promoting local management of nationally
    designated historical/cultural sites
  • Assisting rural communities in making most of
    environmental assets.

17
Part 3 v Part 4 Nature of the choice
  • Unrealistic to expect civil society to come
    up with legislative nuggets
  • Government resource will usually make it
    prime mover on legislation
  • Part 3 approach time consuming
  • Part 3 encourages limited initiative thinking
  • Part 4 would encourage holistic, strategic
    legislation
  • Part 4 might also improve record on
    cross-cutting approaches
  • Not a choice between step-by-step or all at
    once

18
  • If you wanted to get from A to B
  • which would you choose?
  • A Maze
  • or a
  • Motorway

19
Towards a more principled approach
  • The problem of knowing what the Assembly can and
    cant do remains a central issue of
    accountability to the people of Wales.
  • Lord Richard. Chairman of the Richard Commission,
    2004
  • The Government have given careful thought to the
    best way of building stability into the
    settlement. The Scotland Act 1978 provided for
    the transfer of specified areas of legislative
    and executive competence.It would have require
    updating and might have given rise to regular
    legal arguments about whether particular matters
    were or were not devolved. This approach now
    seems incompatible with the Government objective
    of ensuring maximum clarity and stability.
  • Government White Paper on Scottish Parliament,
    1998

20
Cymru Yfory - five principles
  • Stability - to allow civil society to concentrate
    on policy development and delivery.
  • Effective and efficient - to smooth policy
    process through legislation to implementation and
    make best use of everyones time.
  • Comprehensible and transparent - to allow the
    public to identify clearly who is responsible.
  • Respects autonomy of the Assembly - to respect
    the legitimate voice of Wales in the areas of
    competence granted to it.
  • Encourages participation - to encourage greater
    engagement in the political process in electoral
    terms and in policy development.

21
Building on experience Legislation and civil
society in Wales
  • Geraint Talfan Davies
  • Chairman, IWA
  • 13 July 2009
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