Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, for tabling his amendments. In doing so, it allows us to follow up the arguments and discussions that took place following the speech made by my noble friend Lord Temple-Morris. My noble friend has reminded us that his speech raised considerable concerns in many of our minds about what had happened. Initially, when we found out that Section 28 had not been repeated in this Bill, there was perhaps a natural, cynical suspicion that there was something behind this exclusion, However, as the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, has pointed out, when I saw the list of other clauses that have not been repeated, I did not find the absence of Section 28 as sinister as I perhaps initially thought. It is still there; it is in force; and it will apply. I am sorry to tell the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, that in doing this service to the House he has made me, and perhaps others, look at the extraordinary Schedule 4 to the 1998 Act. I apologise for my lack of memory or perhaps a lack of research, I cannot recall what I or others said on the schedule when the Bill was going through, but just look at the nature of it. There are an extraordinary four categories of quangos or bodies under the heading, ““Bodies which may lose or gain functions””, including:"““An agricultural dwelling-house advisory committee . . . An agricultural wages committee . . . the Welsh Industrial Development Advisory Board . . . The Welsh Language Board””." I plead ignorance on how originally Ministers explained what those four bodies have in common that led to them being bracketed in this way under this category. They are four extraordinarily different bodies in many respects. If there is a simple explanation, I would be willing to accept it. Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, would be happy to give it.