proposed Legislative Competence Order relating to Transport : Eighth report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written Evidence

Additional written evidence is contained in Vol. 2, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/welshcom

Government response to HCP 273, Session 2009-10.

proposed Legislative Competence Order relating to school Governance : Seventh report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written Evidence

Pre-legislative scrutiny of the proposed National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Transport) Order 2010

Work of the Committee 2008-09 : Third report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal Minutes

proposed National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) Order in the field of social Welfare 2008 : Fourth report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written Evidence

Working practices between the UK and Welsh Assembly governments in relation to cross-border policies appear much improved since the Committee's earlier reports on this subject. But a number of outstanding issues remain in transport, health and further and higher education. On transport the Committee welcomes the planned electrification of the Great Western Main Line. However, the Department for Transport appears to have washed its hands of any strategic responsibility for cross-border roads. The A483 is the clearest example of a road vital for travel within Wales but which is not important to the English region in which it is located, and as a result loses out on funding. The Committee stresses the need for comparative data on which to build solid research comparing NHS performance in the devolved nations. More needs to be done to raise public awareness of the differences in services people can expect to receive on both sides of the border. Transparency of information is vital. Research proposals in the UK Government's Higher Ambitions strategy for higher education make no reference to nations other than England, despite the UK-wide research remit of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Committee calls for details about how research funding proposals apply to all four nations.

Although the National Assembly of Wales has limited law-making powers, they can be enhanced, given Parliamentary consent, by a new procedure known as Legislative Competence Order in Council. This sits alongside a procedure where Acts of Parliament may prescribe matters on which the National Assembly may legislate within areas (known as "Fields") for which it has responsibility. In this report the Committee examine the new procedure. Although it welcomes the chance to be involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny of draft Orders, it is worried about the potential work load and think there could be merit in ad hoc committees set up to examine each proposed Legislative Competence Order. There is also a concern that Matters added by provisions in Bills of a general nature will not have the same degree of scrutiny as legislative Competence Orders.

The Welsh Affairs Committee finds many aspects of the Legislative Competence Order (LCO) process - the mechanism for the Assembly to bring forward proposals to extend its lawmaking powers - are working well. After more than two years in operation, the LCO process has proved to be an effective system for the transfer of powers to Wales.