Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 47:"Page 52, line 18, at end insert—" ““(6A) If, after receiving a copy of the resolution under subsection (6), the Secretary of State considers it appropriate to proceed with the making of an Order in Council, he shall lay before Parliament a document containing his proposals in the form of a draft of the Order. (6B) Where a document has been laid before Parliament under subsection (6A), no Draft Order shall be laid before Parliament before the expiry of the period of Parliamentary consideration, as defined in subsection (6C). (6C) In this section ““the period of Parliamentary consideration””, in relation to a document, means the period of six months beginning on the day on which it was laid before Parliament. (6D) In preparing a Draft Order to give effect to proposals in a document laid under subsection (6A), the Secretary of State must have regard— (a)   to any representations made during the period for Parliamentary consideration with regard to the document, and (b)   in particular, to any resolution or report of, or of any committee of, either House of Parliament with regard to the document. (6E) When he lays the Draft Order in Council before Parliament, the Secretary of State must also lay a statement giving details of— (a)   any such representations, resolutions or reports, and (b)   the changes (if any) that he has made to his proposals in the light of those representations, resolutions or reports.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, we have debated the substance of Amendment No. 47 on a previous occasion. It is the Opposition’s attempt to respond to the suggestion by Mr Ainger in another place that Parliament should develop a suitable pre-legislative procedure to deal with draft Order in Council proposals. Your Lordships will recall that the involvement of both the Welsh Affairs Committee and the Welsh Grand Committee was considered vital by a number of Members in another place. This amendment seeks to maximise the impact of the pre-legislative procedure, which takes place in Parliament’s committees, on the decision makers. Here I am thinking particularly of the Secretary of State but also of the Welsh Assembly. Of course, it will not be true for all draft orders; some will be more controversial than others. But I believe that, before the formal procedure starts, Parliament will need some time to look at the various considerations. I have suggested a period of six months. I expect that many of your Lordships will consider that too long; I would certainly be willing to entertain a somewhat shorter period, although Parliament would still need several months to conduct an appropriate investigation. Under the Order in Council procedure, Parliament will not be able to amend the order in the way that it does draft Bills. I have tried to deal with that in new subsections (6D) and (6E) of my amendment. New subsection (6D) would require the Secretary of State to have regard,"““(a) to any representations made during the period for Parliamentary consideration with regard to the document, and""(b) in particular, to any resolution or report of, or of any committee of, either House of Parliament with regard to the document””." Your Lordships will also note that new subsection (6E) of the amendment proposes that, when the Secretary of State lays the draft Order in Council before Parliament, he,"““must also lay a statement giving details of—""(a) any such representations, resolutions or reports, and""(b) the changes (if any) that he has made to his proposals in the light of those representations, resolutions or reports””." These Orders in Council devolve power to the Welsh Assembly from the sovereign Parliament of the United Kingdom. They must be taken seriously. They can be dealt with seriously only if the structures and procedures are in place at Westminster to give them the examination that we would normally expect to give a Bill, bearing in mind that, unlike a Bill, we cannot amend them. That is the philosophy behind this amendment. I hope that the Government will welcome it and, though they cannot legislate for what happens in Parliament, give enough sea-room in the Bill for Parliament to undertake its important task. I beg to move.