| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7.15 pm
Mr. Davies: Of course he did. The position is clear. The responsibility for funding the Welsh Development Agency will pass to the assembly, as will the responsibility for laying down the strategy for the agency. The responsibility for monitoring the WDA will also pass to the assembly. There is no possibility whatever of a conflict developing between the wishes of the Secretary of State and those of the assembly, because the Secretary of State's responsibilities in respect of the WDA will have passed to the assembly.
Mr. Letwin: Will the external financing limit powers under the 1975 Act pass to the assembly?
Mr. Davies: The responsibility for funding the assembly now rests with the Secretary of State. The funding for the Welsh Development Agency comes out of the block grant. Under the new arrangements, it will be the responsibility of the Secretary of State to consider the expenditure that is necessary and appropriate for the Welsh assembly in the exercise of all its functions. It will then be a matter for the assembly itself to decide what proportion of the grant that it is given shall be allocated to the Welsh Development Agency.
As for raising the WDA's external financing limits, the hon. Member for West Dorset will know that, about 12 months ago, the Conservative Government passed an amendment to the provisions, to allow an increase by means of secondary legislation. That power will pass to the assembly.
Mr. Letwin:
I am grateful to the Secretary of State; he may actually be helping me. Is he saying that, from now on, the agency's external financing limit will be a matter not for the Treasury but purely for the Welsh assembly?
Mr. Davies:
When the assembly is established, in more than 12 months' time, it will be for that body to decide how to use the powers that it has been given. The hon. Gentleman is now asking a particular question about the Treasury's residual role. My present understanding is that the ability to raise the financing limit of the Welsh Development Agency will pass to the assembly, but the hon. Gentleman is asking a specific question--[Interruption.] I am trying to deal with the hon. Gentleman on the basis of the information that I currently have.
My understanding is that the responsibility will pass to the assembly. If there is any requirement for the assembly to seek approval from the Treasury, I shall write to the hon. Gentleman and let him know. Without having had the opportunity to check, it is my understanding that such consent will not be required, but I shall write to the hon. Gentleman and let him know.
Mr. Davies:
I shall give way to my hon. Friend, but I want to return to the substance of the debate now. I do not want to be sidetracked into the funding of the Welsh Development Agency, because we have already had a lengthy debate on that subject.
Mr. Rowlands:
As I recall, we recently changed the legislation. Originally any increase in the borrowing powers of the WDA required primary legislation, but now that can be done through an order-making power.
Mr. Davies:
That is precisely the point that I just made in answer to the hon. Member for West Dorset.
If there are any questions that I have not answered--apart from those asked by the hon. Member for Ceredigion--I apologise. If there are hon. Members who feel that I have omitted to respond to their questions, perhaps they will let me know and I shall attempt to deal with them in correspondence.
I shall talk about our new clause 38. It is appropriate that the hon. Member for Ceredigion who, as I said earlier, has a long record in such matters, has provided us with the opportunity to debate sustainable development as part of our proceedings on the Bill. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that sustainable development is about ensuring a better quality of life, both now and for generations to come. I also agree with his definition of sustainable development, which encompasses economic, social and environmental goals. It is concerned with achieving economic growth, while protecting and, where possible, enhancing the environment. It is about making sure that those economic and environmental benefits are available to everyone and not just to a privileged few. Sustainable development is about a new and integrated way of thinking that influences choices across government and throughout society.
The Government have committed themselves to placing the environment at the heart of their policy making and are engaged in a wide-ranging consultation process which will lead to a revised strategy for sustainable development. The hon. Member for Ceredigion raised that point and I assure him that it is my desire that that development work should continue between now and May next year, so that when the assembly is established much of the preparatory work will have been done.
Paragraph 1.24 of the devolution White Paper states:
New clause 38 meets the commitments that we have given. It places the assembly under a duty to publish
Mr. Dafis:
New clause 38(1) is somewhat convoluted and there appear to be several stages between the words "scheme" and "sustainable development" where the whole process might fall down. Are we talking about the assembly drawing up a sustainable development strategy for Wales?
Mr. Davies:
The hon. Gentleman has to accept that the wording of new clause 38 makes it clear that the assembly will have to draw up a scheme, just as the Welsh Language Board requires public authorities in Wales to draw up schemes. The question of strategy is a wider matter and it will be for the assembly to decide that for itself through the development of its policies. It will want to develop separate strategies for sustainable development in the countryside, for sustainable development of transport policy and for sustainable economic development generally, and those strategies will inform all aspects of assembly policy.
What we are talking about here is a statutory duty to be placed on the assembly to produce a scheme to give expression to the desire that it should promote sustainability across all of its functions. That is the scheme; the strategy will be the way in which the assembly develops all of its policies, and that is a matter for the assembly and the elected representatives who sit in it.
Mr. Dafis:
Will the Secretary of State confirm that, in reality, the scheme will amount to nothing if it does not generate, or oblige the assembly to generate, a strategy? He spoke of several strategies, but surely those would have to be encompassed within an overall strategy, which the UK Government already have and which Governments all over the world were obliged to draw up after the Rio agreements?
Mr. Davies:
No, I do not accept that interpretation. It is clear that there will be a requirement on the assembly to produce a scheme. That scheme will have to be published, subjected to the normal processes of accountability and reviewed regularly, so it cannot be set aside, as the hon. Gentleman suggests would be possible. The assembly will have had that duty placed on it. However, I acknowledge that what counts will be the enthusiasm with which the political parties that contest seats in the assembly embrace the principles of sustainability. It will be their policies, for which they will seek the electorate's approval, that will determine how successful and meaningful the scheme becomes.
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that this is a case of Wales breaking new ground. No such duty applies to the UK Government in exercising their executive functions or
to this Parliament in framing legislation. The scheme that the assembly must prepare will extend across all its functions, although--this is the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North--obviously the "due regard" to be given to the principle of promoting sustainable development may vary from function to function. As the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire said, there will be a need to develop strategies for transport, for agriculture, for economic development in the countryside, and so on. The assembly will also be under a duty to keep its scheme under review and to publish an annual report setting out how its proposals in the scheme were implemented in each financial year.
The other amendments in the group express Plaid Cymru's concerns for the environment in Wales and the wish to ensure that all economic development is sustainable. Naturally, the Government prefer their own provision, new clause 38, to new clause 18, although there are similarities between the two.
New clause 18 raises the additional point that the assembly should review annually
In exercising its functions, the assembly will need to have regard to the international obligations into which the UK has entered, for example, after the Rio and Kyoto summits. However, it is unnecessary for the Bill to refer explicitly to such matters, as the assembly could take account of them in framing its scheme under new clause 38.
The Welsh Development Agency is required under existing legislation to further the improvement of the environment in Wales. The overarching requirement on the assembly to have due regard to sustainable development will inform the strategic guidance and targets that it sets for the agency. That and the agency's own governing legislation are sufficiently robust to ensure that environmental concerns are taken into consideration by the agency in the exercise of its functions. Given those two additional provisions, the Government's view is that amendments Nos. 517, 518 and 522 are unnecessary.
"The Government will . . . ensure that the Assembly . . . promotes sustainable development".
On 8 December last year, I told the House that one of the Government's amendments would
"most certainly place a duty on the assembly to have regard to the principle of sustainability."--[Official Report, 8 December 1997; Vol. 302, c. 752.]
The new clause gives expression to that intent and I am genuinely grateful for the wide support that it has received from all parties represented in the Chamber.
"a scheme setting out its proposals for securing that its functions are exercised with due regard to the principle that sustainable development should be promoted."
The hon. Member for Ceredigion was quite right when he said that here was a case of Wales breaking new ground. No such duty applies to the UK Government in exercising their executive functions or to the UK Parliament in framing legislation.
"the implications for Wales of any relevant quantitative targets for the United Kingdom set by Parliament or by Ministers of the Crown."
That recognises that there are policies that affect sustainable development in Wales over which the assembly will have no control, because they will continue to be dealt with by the UK Government--for example, taxation issues, such as the level of duty on petrol and value added tax on domestic fuel. When he opened the debate, the hon. Member for Ceredigion asked whether schedule 4 should be extended to include Opraf. I shall consider that question and, when I have taken advice, I shall get in touch with him.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |