I suspect the hon. Lady has misunderstood the points I am trying to make. I am seeking to give the Welsh Government freedom in the franchise for local elections, but the current legislation ties the PCC franchise to that of local elections. Should the Welsh Government want to make a change in Wales because of their policies or desires to extend or amend the franchise within the powers conferred in the Bill, it should not be consequential on UK Government policy, and PCC elections are reserved.
It is for the Welsh Government to decide who is eligible to vote—the hon. Lady mentions age—and that is not tied or linked to the policies of the UK Government of the day, whoever they may be. I hope this proposed legislation will be settled for many years and decades to come. Extending or curtailing the franchise, in particular in relation to local elections in Wales, is a matter for the Welsh Government rather than the UK Government. Similarly, any consideration of the franchise for PCC elections is a matter for the UK Government. They are linked under current legislation. The amendments seek to separate that link, so that the responsibility lies with the respective legislature. I hope that clarifies the points raised about a number of amendments. The intention is to give greater freedom to the Welsh Government, so that if they want to change the franchise they are not restricted by the franchise that already exists for PCC elections from this place.
Amendments 14 to 18, 29 to 31, 44, 58 and 51 make a number of technical changes to arrangements in clause 12 and related schedules relating to financial control, accounts and audit. Since introducing the Bill, the Government have continued to discuss its financial control provisions with the Welsh Government and the Assembly commission. The amendments arise from those discussions. Amendment 16 inserts provision in section 124 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, equivalent to the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998, so that a sum paid out of the Welsh consolidated fund may not be applied for any purpose other than that for which it was charged or paid out.
Amendment 29 removes the prohibition on an Assembly Act, amending section 145 or 145A of the Government of Wales Act 1998, which makes provisions for examinations and studies by the Auditor General for Wales. Amendment 18 removes from the Comptroller and Auditor General reserve powers to carry out examinations regarding payments into and out of the Welsh consolidated fund, and the power to carry out value-for-money studies in relation to Wales public authorities. All amendments in this grouping are consequential on amendment 18, to remove the Comptroller and Auditor General’s powers over specific Welsh public authorities. With these amendments, the Auditor General for Wales will be the sole auditor of Welsh funds and Welsh public bodies. The Government have confirmed with the Comptroller and Auditor General that he is content with the removal of these powers, which have never been exercised.
Amendment 28 similarly results from discussions with the Welsh Government and removes the reservation for the Children’s Commissioner, whose post was established
through the Children Act 2004. The UK Children’s Commissioner will be a reserved authority subject to the restrictions in paragraphs 8 and 10 of new schedule 7B. The effect of paragraphs 8 and 10 is that a provision of an Assembly Act cannot change the UK Children’s Commissioner’s functions unless the Secretary of State has consented. Removing the reservation will ensure that there are no barriers to the Assembly amending the functions or constitution of the Children’s Commissioner, provided the consent of the UK Government has been obtained.
Amendment 32 removes a needless provision from the Bill, paragraph 9(5) of new schedule 7B to the Government of Wales Act 2006. The amendment is being tabled in the interests of brevity and to avoid confusion, and at the suggestion of the Welsh Government. I am grateful to them for raising this point.
Amendments 34 to 37 remove from new schedule 3A several functions that are currently listed as concurrent, but have in fact either been repealed or transferred entirely to Welsh Ministers. Amendment 38 inserts into new schedule 3A concurrent functions provided for in clause 7 on the UK digital service in relation to Assembly elections and local government elections in Wales. The need to make the changes to new schedule 3A has been agreed as part of the constructive discussions on the Bill that my officials and I are having with the Welsh Government. The amendments are relatively minor and technical, but they are necessary to ensure the Bill delivers a clear and coherent devolution settlement for Wales.
5.45 pm
Amendments 39 to 42 add seven further bodies to the list of “Wales public authorities” that are provided for in schedule 4. Their effect is to confirm the “devolved” nature of these bodies. I have tabled these amendments in response to representations made by the Assembly’s presiding officer and the Welsh Government. These bodies have functions that are exercisable only in relation to Wales and that wholly or mainly do not relate to reserved matters. As such, they meet the tests for Wales public authorities that are already laid down in clause 4. We were happy to respond to the calls made by the Welsh Government and the presiding officer.
Finally, a number of Government amendments have been brought forward in response to issues raised in Committee in July. Amendments 3 to 8 address the issue raised by the hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts), who sought to insert into the Government of Wales Act 2006 separate statements on the permanence of the Assembly and of the Welsh Government. I committed to considering that further, and I am pleased to be able to bring forward amendments today to address the issue by ensuring that statements in clause 1 relating to the permanence of devolved institutions in Wales and the recognition of a body of Welsh law are inserted at the start of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Amendments 9 to 12 and amendment 43 make changes to clause 6 to give the presiding officer rather than Welsh Ministers the existing power to propose varying the date of an ordinary Assembly general election by up to month, as well as the power to propose the date of an extraordinary Assembly general election. Those changes
will bring the position in Wales into line with the provisions in Scotland, where the equivalent powers to propose election dates have always been exercised by the presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament.
Amendment 13 similarly addresses an issue raised by the hon. Members for Arfon (Hywel Williams), for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) in the amendment they tabled in Committee. They sought to remove the requirement for statements made under the new section 111A of the Government of Wales Act 2006 inserted by clause 8 to be made bilingually. I committed to reflecting on that further with a view to bringing forward an amendment on Report. As those hon. Members rightly highlighted, both English and Welsh are official languages of the Assembly, and any statement made in the Assembly must already be reported bilingually as a matter of course. I am thus content that that does not need to be provided for specifically in the Bill. I am grateful to those hon. Members for raising the issue.
Amendments 19 to 22 amend clause 15 so that if the Assembly changes its name, any Welsh language references in the statute book to the National Assembly for Wales, the Commission or Acts of the Assembly are changed to reflect the new name. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Arfon for tabling similar amendments in Committee. I said then that I would consider the issues raised, and I am pleased to address them now with amendments 19 to 22.
The final issue raised in Committee which I committed to considering relates to the scope of the reservation that deals with civil and criminal proceedings. The hon. Members for Arfon, for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr tabled an amendment to narrow the scope of reservation 6(1)(c), so that the current reference to “prosecutors” would be changed to “the Crown Prosecution Service”. The intention was to make it clear that the Assembly would be able to specify devolved authorities such as local authorities as prosecutors for devolved offences.
In response, I said that it was not the intention to prevent the Assembly from legislating to make devolved bodies the prosecuting authority for particular devolved offences and that the current reservation achieved that. Nevertheless, I understood the hon. Members’ concerns and agreed to consider the reservation further. Having done so, I have a number of concerns about narrowing or broadening the reservation.
First, replacing the current reference to “prosecutors” with a narrow reference only to “the Crown Prosecution Service” would not cover other reserved prosecuting authorities, such as the Serious Fraud Office. Secondly, it is likely that expanding the list to include a wider range of prosecutorial authorities would go further than we believe is necessary. Many of the authorities have functions beyond prosecution which could make reserving them more complicated. For example, the Serious Fraud Office both investigates and prosecutes cases, while for other authorities, including the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive, and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, prosecution is but one of a range of much wider functions.
Thirdly, a non-exhaustive list would be likely to preclude the Welsh Assembly from specifying appropriate authorities, as well as making the reservations longer and more unwieldy.
However, I understand the need for clarification and reassurance. Officials have therefore worked closely with key stakeholders, including the Attorney General’s Office and the Whitehall Prosecutors’ Group, to develop an amendment that clarifies the Assembly’s powers while ensuring that the prosecutorial framework remains a reserved matter.
Amendment 26 retains the existing reservation’s reference to “prosecutors”, but makes it clear that that does not prevent the Assembly from making provision about responsibility for the prosecution of a devolved offence. That could include specifying who would have prosecuting authority for a devolved offence, or making provision for prosecutions of devolved offences to be subject to consent. However, if the Assembly wished to confer functions on a reserved authority in this regard, that would engage the consent mechanisms in paragraphs 8 and/or 10 of schedule 7B. I believe that the amendment achieves what the hon. Members for Arfon, Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Carmarthen East and Dinefwr are seeking in the most efficient way possible, without having a negative impact on the intention to legislate to support the Assembly.
I trust that I have persuaded Members on both sides of the House of the need for our amendments. Let me now deal with the Opposition new clauses and amendments. New clause 2, amendments (a) and (b) and amendments 1 and 63 to 65, tabled by the hon. Members for Newport West (Paul Flynn) and for Hyndburn (Graham Jones), would devolve legislative and executive competence to the Assembly to regulate the number of high-stakes gaming machines authorised by new betting-premises licences in Wales. They would also devolve legislative competence for betting, gaming and lotteries in Wales to the Assembly. Betting, gaming and lotteries are not devolved to the Assembly, and will be reserved subjects under the Bill. The Silk commission made no recommendations on their devolution, and the subject was therefore not considered under the St David’s day process, the thread of thinking that resulted from the Silk commission.