Transport (Wales) Bill

moved Amendment No. 2:"Page 5, line 4, leave out subsection (1)." The noble Lord said: My Lords, subsection (1) establishes a public transport users’ committee for Wales. We query the whole procedure for establishing it, because it is unacceptably vague. The clause certainly merits that description, so far as defining the powers and duties of that committee is concerned. Considering that the Bill has been so long in the writing, it is not unfair to expect a more defined and detailed result. The need for the committee has been recognised for many years, so why have the Government been so negligent in establishing the duties and functions that could and should have been worked out before introducing the Bill? I am bound to think that it is a bad omen for the further devolution of powers to the Welsh Assembly that we are asked to approve this mishmash of permissive powers. It is a half-baked proposal, which is one reason why we object to it. As a result of that vagueness, the clause has been criticised by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee for leaving so many aspects of the public transport users’ committee to secondary legislation. The White Paper, Better Governance for Wales, and the Government of Wales Bill, which was discussed in the other place yesterday, provide for further framework legislation of just this kind. Why is this Bill—like the NHS Redress Bill, also currently going through this House—jumping the gun and running ahead of the Government’s own timetable for regularising what is generally regarded as a highly dubious legislative procedure? It is for those reasons that we object to the clause describing the transport users’ committee. I beg to move.