Government of Wales Bill

Let me describe the process, and perhaps that will help my right hon. Friend. Once the pre-legislative scrutiny has been undertaken, any suggested changes would return to the Assembly in a report produced by the Welsh Affairs Committee, or jointly by an Assembly Committee. In fact, the Assembly Committee may separately be considering the same proposal. It would then be for the Assembly possibly to reconsider the form of the draft Order in Council, taking into account the pre-legislative scrutiny. The order would then return to the Secretary of State, who would lay it before the House, and it would be debated. If members of the Welsh Affairs Committee or anybody else who had been involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny felt that their reasonable comments and suggested amendments had not been taken on board, it is possible that they could persuade their colleagues in the House that the order should not go through.