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

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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

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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

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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