Further Submission from the Welsh Affairs
Committee
We are very concerned by the proposal, contained
in paragraph 9 of the Government's memorandum, that the terms
of reference of the Welsh Affairs Committee should be amended
to confine them to the responsibilities of the Secretary of State
for Wales.
Our terms of reference, as set out in Standing
Order No. 152, will have to be amended at least to take account
of the fact that (as is now clear) there will be no Welsh Office
after May 1999. We are concerned, however, that replacing "Welsh
Office" with "the office of the Secretary of State for
Wales" may be far too restrictive. Much would depend on what
the future "responsibilities" of the Secretary of State
are considered to be. His executive functions will, it appears,
be few. (We enclose an explanatory note we have received from
the Welsh Office, on the role of the Secretary of State after
devolution.) If we were to be limited to scrutiny of the Secretary
of State's executive functions, our existence would be pointless.
However, given that the Secretary of State will be responsible
for all primary legislation which affects Wales (where powers
are to be given to the Assembly), it might be that his "responsibilities"
could be deemed to cover also the functions transferred to the
National Assembly. If that were the case, our role would be no
more restricted than at present. And given that the Secretary
of State will be responsible for representing Welsh interests
in Cabinet, it could be that our remit could extend to all UK
policy affecting Wales. However, it does not seem satisfactory
to define our remit in a way that is open to such differing interpretation.
We would emphasise that the model of devolution
adopted for Wales is very different from that for Scotland and
Northern Ireland. Westminster's continuing responsibility
for primary legislation for Wales in all policy areas will
require Members of Parliament (and not just Welsh Members) at
the very least to keep a watching brief on matters for which executive
responsibility has been transferred to the Assembly. As we said
in our earlier submission, we do not envisage that the Committee
should seek to inquire into (or second guess) Assembly policy,
but it may be best not to restrict its role too tightly.
The National Assembly Advisory Group has suggested
that we might have a useful liaison role, as a channel of opinion
between Westminster and the Assembly. For that liaison to be effective,
it is essential that we should not be constrained by overly restrictive
terms of reference. For example, in order to fulfil the pre-legislative
role which the Government envisages for select committees, we
might usefully take evidence from the Assembly on legislation
they consider necessary for Wales.
Our preference would be to be given a cross-cutting
brief to scrutinise Welsh Affairs. This would allow us to examine
proposals for UK policy and legislation which appeared particularly
to affect Wales, if necessary taking evidence from UK Departments.
Obviously we would have to ensure that we did not tread on the
toes of other Departmental Select Committees, but we do not believe
that the risk of overlap problems would be much greater than at
present.
16 February 1999
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