National Assembly for Wales

Prynhawn da. Good afternoon. Can I welcome Members to this meeting of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee? We have no apologies. As a reminder, the meeting is being broadcast live on Senedd.tv, and the Record of Proceedings will be published as usual.  Please can Members ensure that all mobile devices are switched to silent? Senedd Cymru operates through the medium of the Welsh and English languages, and interpretation is available during today's meeting. 

So, we'll move on to item 2, instruments that raise no reporting issues under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3. Item 2.1. These regulations amend the Education (Student Information) (Wales) Regulations 2017 to reflect changes made by the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 and the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Senedd lawyers have identified no reporting points. Do Members have any comments? No. Are we happy to agree? Yes. 

Item 2.2, the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2024. These regulations make amendments to primary and secondary legislation to reflect the provisions in the 2022 Act. Senedd lawyers have identified no reporting points. Do Members have any comments or observations? If not, are we happy to agree them? Yes. 

Item 3, instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3. Under item 3, we have the Central Rating List (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. These regulations amend the 2005 regulations to update references to designated persons and omit those that are no longer central list ratepayers. Senedd lawyers identify two technical points and two merits reporting points. A Welsh Government response has been received today. I'll now pass you over to Kate from our legal team. 

Thank you. The first technical reporting point identifies potentially defective drafting and, in response, Welsh Government confirms that this is an error but, in its view, the amendment will still operate as intended, so it doesn't propose to make any changes. The second technical reporting point seeks further information from Welsh Government in relation to one of the amendments being made. And, again, in response, Welsh Government confirms that the drafting reflects the Government's intentions.

The merits points are just to note—first, that no consultation was carried out, and second that no regulatory impact assessment has been carried out, in relation to the regulations.  

Thank you. Members, do you have anything to raise, or are we happy to agree the reporting points? I take that to be that we're happy to agree the reporting points. 

Item 3.2, the Digital Government (Welsh Bodies) Regulations 2024. A draft report is in the papers. These regulations remove the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales from the list of persons in the Digital Economy Act 2017 who are permitted to share information for specific purposes, and replaces it with the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research. Senedd lawyers have identified two merits reporting points. A Welsh Government response has been requested. I'll now pass you over to Kate from our legal team. 

If I could just draw your attention to the first merits point, this is asking Welsh Government whether or not a regulatory impact assessment has been carried out in relation to the regulations, because there is conflicting information between the explanatory note and the explanatory memorandum, and we're waiting for Welsh Government to respond on that point. 

Have Members got anything to raise? No.

On to item 4, instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.2 or 21.3—previously considered. We considered and reported on these regulations—that is, SL(6)493, the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024—on 24 June. Following this, Members agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary, offering further comments and setting out some remaining concerns. Our letter is included in today's papers for the public record. Members will be aware that the regulations were debated and approved by the Senedd last week. Members may wish to discuss this further in private session—any outstanding issues. Yes?

Item 5 is instruments that raise issues to be reported to the Senedd under Standing Order 21.7—previously considered. SL(6)494, 'Part 2 Code of Practice: General Functions'. We considered a report on this draft code of practice last week. Kate, do you have any views on the Welsh Government's response to draw to Members' attention? 

Just to note that Welsh Government's response confirms that the issues identified by the committee will be addressed through editorial corrections. So, the code will be correct before it's finalised.

Do Members have anything to add? No. Item 5.2, SL(6)495, the national framework for the commissioning of care and support in Wales code of practice. We considered a report on this draft code of practice last week. Kate, do you have any views on the Welsh Government response to draw to Members' attention?

Again, the Welsh Government is going to make editorial corrections to fix the issues in this code.

Do Members have anything to add or raise? No.

Inter-institutional relations agreement—we have notifications and correspondence under the inter-institutional relations agreement. This is a regular standing item in this committee's agenda. We have nothing under this item this week to discuss.

So, we can move on to item 7, papers to note. Item 7.1, correspondence and written statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: healthy food environment. The Cabinet Secretary confirms she has launched a consultation about the proposed enforcement approach for legislation to restrict promotion of food products high in fat, sugar and salt by location and price, together with a draft text of the regulations. The Cabinet Secretary confirms that she intends to lay the regulations before the Senedd before the end of 2024. Do Members have any comments they wish to make? If not—. No.

We'll move on to the next item, correspondence with the UK Government: the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. At item 7.2, we have a letter from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in relation to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. The committee wrote to the Minister of State for Data and Digital Infrastructure requesting clarity on matters raised by the former First Minister in his response to the committee's report on the Welsh Government's supplementary legislative consent memorandum, memorandum No. 3, on this Bill. The letter confirmed that the Bill did not complete parliamentary passage ahead of prorogation, therefore did not receive Royal Assent. Are Members content to just note that?

And item 7.3, correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office: Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill. We've received a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office to the Finance Committee and the Local Government and Housing Committee in relation to the local government finance Bill. The Cabinet Secretary confirms that an updated explanatory memorandum has been published to the Bill ahead of Stage 3 proceedings and outlines various revisions that have been made to the explanatory memorandum to reflect Government responses to recommendations made by the two committees. The Cabinet Secretary also notes that various amendments have been made to the explanatory memorandum to reflect recommendations made by this committee and also Government amendments made to the Bill at Stage 2. Are Members are content to note this? Yes.

We'll move on to the next item, item 7.4, correspondence from the Counsel General: legislation Bill. We have a letter from the Counsel General in relation to the legislation Bill, which he says the Welsh Government intends to bring forward in order to repeal and amend provisions that are no longer practical in utility or benefit, and make minor amendments to the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019. In his letter, the Counsel General has offered to provide us with a technical briefing in relation to this Bill. Do Members wish to discuss this further in private session? Yes, okay.

Item 8, in accordance with Standing Order 17.42(vi), I invite the committee to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of this meeting. Do Members agree? Yes. We'll now move into private session.