Appendix C
Letter from the Clerk of the Committee to the
Public Administration and Honours Unit, Welsh Assembly Government
Proposal for the Regulatory Reform (Local Commissioner
for Wales) Order 2004: request for further information
Thank you for your appearance before the Committee
this morning, and for the extremely helpful briefing which you
and the Office of the Counsel General gave on the proposal.
The Committee considered the proposal at its subsequent
meeting and resolved to seek further information from the Department.
The issues which concern the Committee are set out below, together
with questions arising from them, under the relevant categories
for consideration set out in the Regulatory Reform Act and the
Committee's Standing Order.
Whether the proposal continues any necessary
protection (S.O. No. 141(6)(c))
1. The Committee notes that the proposal would remove
two apparent protections in existing legislation relating to the
composition of, and appointment to, the Commission for Local Authorities
in Wales (CLAW).
2. Under the existing legislation, the CLAW must
consist of two Commissioners—the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Administration, ex officio, and the 'Local Commissioner'
empowered to carry out investigations, who is appointed by Her
Majesty following consultation with representatives of local authorities
in Wales, under section 23(4) of the Local Government Act 1974
("the 1974 Act"). Where the offices of Parliamentary
Commissioner for Administration and Welsh Administration Ombudsman
are held by different individuals, the Welsh Administration Ombudsman
is also an ex officio member of the CLAW.
3. Under the proposals, the Welsh Administration
Ombudsman will be able to carry out investigations as a Local
Commissioner. This appears to circumvent two of the requirements
in the existing legislation, namely that the CLAW must consist
of at least one Commissioner appointed under section 23(4) of
the 1974 Act, and that the Commissioner of the CLAW able to undertake
investigations as a Local Commissioner must be appointed under
section 23(4). Should the proposal be enacted, it would therefore
be possible for the CLAW to be constituted, and for the Welsh
Administration Ombudsman to exercise the functions of a Local
Commissioner, without any prior consultation with local authorities
in Wales.
Q 1 Please indicate why the arrangements requiring
the Commission for Local Authorities in Wales to comprise at least
one appointed Commissioner were retained when the legislation
establishing the Welsh Administration Ombudsman was enacted in
1998.
Q 2 Please indicate whether the present statutory
provision for the composition of the Commission and the appointment
of the Local Commissioner constitute a form of protection, and
if so why.
Q 3 If the statutory provision referred to
in Q2 does constitute a form of protection, please explain why
that protection is not maintained under the proposals.
Estimates in increases or reductions of costs
or other benefits (S.O. No. 141(6)(m))
4. The Department has not stated, in the explanatory
statement, whether there are any costs involved in any practical
reorganisations consequent on the appointment of the same individual
to all three posts.
Q 4 Please indicate what the practical consequences
of the joint appointments will be, in terms of re-location and
co-location of the relevant offices, if the proposed order is
made.
Q 5 Please indicate whether there will be
any resulting costs or savings, and if so, what these are estimated
to be.
I would be grateful to receive your response to the
above questions, together with any further information the Department
believes would be helpful to the Committee, not later than Friday
16 April.
30 March 2004
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