Assembly Powers

I should have blogged that we debated the report of the Assembly Committee Report on the White Paper Better Governance for Wales last week.

I broadly supported the Committee's report, which I think:

specifically recognises that the White Paper is taking this institution in the direction of a legislative body and in the direction of a body with parliamentary responsibilities. The committee’s report faces up to some of the challenges that the Assembly needs to address if it is going to head in the direction of a more legislative role. In the committee’s report, I see that only around 9 per cent of Plenary time and around 3 per cent of committee time is currently spent on legislative matters. That bears out something that I have said here before: giving stronger powers to the Assembly will make for a better Assembly. It will mean that the debates in which we engage will be focused on specific items of legislation—more often, not wholly, as there are roles for a body like this other than simply passing legislation. As I have said before, our debates often have more of the character of party conference debates than they do of an engagement with the detail of legislation, and I welcome that. I also welcome some of the proposals that the committee makes in respect of legislation.