Government of Wales Bill

It is for the Minister to answer that point and set our minds at rest, or to come clean about the Government’s intentions. When we see a provision drawn so widely, it sets the alarm bells ringing on what the Father of the House called creeping devolution. It could become a reality. This is a difficult area, but as I understand it the devolved subjects that were listed in schedule 2 to the Government of Wales Act 1998 are not repeated exactly in this Bill. They have been supplemented and slightly changed. I would like to hear from the Minister his views on the breadth of those fields. If he is intent on deepening rather than widening, perhaps he will allay our fears that the Bill will widen the devolution settlement by including headings as broad as ““social welfare””.