Government of Wales Bill

I shall be as brief as I can, because I know that Members wish to debate other amendments tonight. The hon. Gentleman made the case for giving the Assembly powers over the police and police authorities. As a point of principle, this Bill does not broaden devolution. That is not its purpose. It is here to deepen devolution. The issue of the police does not appear and I assure him that any further amendments looking to extend the areas over which the Assembly has Executive powers and legislative competence will not be considered. The hon. Gentleman asks why schedule 5 is set out in the way that it is and why the Bill is different from the Scotland Act 1998. In fact, the Bill is set out in the same way as the Scotland Act 1978. There are two ways of defining what an assembly or parliament has competence over. In the 1978 Act, it was decided, as we have decided, to define the areas over which it would be possible for the body to legislate. That is the first method. The other method was adopted in the Scotland Act 1998, which, as the hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price) rightly identified, the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire has done a cut-and-paste job on. I will not say any more about that. The second method defines the areas over which the body does not have competence and cannot legislate. A judgment is made based on other issues and relevant factors that would persuade one to choose one method over another. It is clear that we chose one system for Scotland in 1978 and another for Scotland in 1998. The issues are finely balanced. Wales is unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland because, in the other two Administrations, the areas over which they cannot legislate are defined. The other two have their own judicial systems, but the judicial system in Wales is, as we all know, linked to that in England. The jurisdiction is over England and Wales. As more and more legislation goes through, we think that there might be problems and that is one reason for choosing the option that we have. The option in the Bill also assists with the system for Orders in Council. The fields are set out in schedule 5 and, when Orders in Council go through, matters will be lodged under each field. That is an easy way to define the process.