Y Pwyllgor Plant a Phobl Ifanc
Children and Young People Committee
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Gwenda Thomas AM Deputy Minister for Children and Social Services Welsh Government
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Bae Caerdydd / Cardiff Bay
12 January 2012 |
Dear Gwenda
Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum (LCM) relating to the
Welfare Reform Bill
As you will be aware, the Business Committee referred the above LCM to the Children and Young People Committee on 10 January, with a reporting deadline of 20 January.
The Committee discussed the LCM at its meeting this morning and agreed that I should write to you in the following terms.
Timing
1. The Scottish Parliament has already considered the Welfare Reform Bill at length last year and it has been the subject of 4 committee reports between October and December, including consideration of the amendments that were laid before the Assembly for consideration on 3rd January 2012. Could you explain why the LCM relating to these amendments has been laid much later in the Assembly than in the Scottish Parliament?
Points of clarification
2. Schedule 13, paragraph 3 (the proposed new Schedule 1) – relating to removing the duty of consulting the Welsh Ministers when a Minister of the Crown appoints other members of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. Paragraph 11 of the Memorandum states that if consent was withheld for the LCM, “the logical consequence would be that reference to the Welsh strategy and consultation of the Welsh Ministers would be removed.” This statement seems to contradict the LCM, because if the LCM is agreed then consultation in relation to appointments to the Commission board with the Welsh Ministers will be removed in any event. The Committee would be grateful for clarification as to whether the reference to ‘consultation’ is in relation to appointments to the Commission board or to the Welsh Child Poverty Strategy. Could you also clarify the reasoning for removing the duty of consultation with the Welsh Ministers in relation to appointments?
3. Paragraph 7 of the Memorandum states that the UK Government is considering further amendments to the Bill to be tabled at the Lords Report stage (11th January 2012). It states that these amendments will remove the requirement for the Commission’s annual statement to present views on the progress made towards implementing devolved strategies. If the Commission will no longer report on the performance of the Welsh child poverty strategy, do you intend to report annually on progress made/targets met?
I would be grateful for a response by Tuesday 17 January in order that the Committee may be able to consider this at its meeting the following day.
A copy of this letter goes to the Chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee in view of their recent inquiry into the granting of powers to Welsh Ministers in UK laws, particularly the procedures for Legislative Consent Motions compared to the position in the other devolved legislatures.
Yours sincerely
Christine Chapman
Chair