Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 10: Page 58, line 16, after ““Parliament”” insert ““and give notice in writing to the First Minister that he has completed the consultation required under section 103(6),”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 10 and speaking to AmendmentNo. 11, I shall not reopen any of the arguments that we had at an earlier stage of the Bill. These are drafting amendments, which are appropriate for Part 3 and which attempt to introduce a tiny additional element of clarity into two subsections that are extremely complex and difficult to understand. They might be clearer if they were in reverse order, but it is worth going over the procedures that must be followed to trigger a referendum, if only to show just how complicated the matter is and because, even after re-reading the subsections a dozen times, I may still have got them wrong. As I understand it, the first step is that the Assembly passes a resolution, moved by a Minister, with a two-thirds majority and recommending an Order in Council. The second step is that the First Minister must give notice of that fact to the Secretary of State. That triggers two actions. First, under Clause 103(6), the Secretary of State undertakes, "““such consultation as the Secretary of State considers appropriate””." Until he has done so, no draft statutory instrument can be laid before Parliament or the Assembly. Then, as we heard in the previous debate, he must lay a draft statutory instrument before each House of Parliament within 120 days. Until a moment or two ago, I would have had to add, ““or give notice of his refusal to do so””, but that position has altered in the light of the amendment that has just been carried. Then we get to a rather curious position; it is worth going over this ground, if only because I suspect the Government may attempt in another place to go back to the position that we have just amended and return these amendments to us. If the Secretary of State refuses to lay a draft statutory instrument before both Houses of Parliament, he must inform the Assembly of his refusal and of his reasons for it. Curiously, however, he is not required to tell the Assembly that he has approved a draft statutory instrument and has laid it before both Houses of Parliament. The Assembly must now approve the draft order and, for the second time, achieve a two-thirds majority. The first was at the start of the resolution process; the second is to approve the draft order. Assuming that it does so and that both Houses of Parliament do likewise, we go back to Clause 103(1), in which, "““Her Majesty may by Order in Council cause a referendum to be held””." My amendment would merely introduce a little clarity into at least part of the procedure. It suggests that the Secretary of State should actually inform the Assembly that he has laid orders before both Houses of Parliament, and presumably should give it the details of those orders so that the order laid before the Assembly is the same order, and should request it to lay the order. It is odd that the refusal to lay the order is in the clause, but there is no requirement that the Secretary of State should tell the Assembly in effect, ““Okay, we have got to the next step. You must now lay the order and have the opportunity to vote on it for the second time””. I had not recognised before I read the two subsections a dozen times and attempted to understand them that the Assembly has to give its approval twice by a two-thirds majority before we can get to the Assembly stage. I would not change the Government’s intentions in this respect; I am simply asking that a requirement is written into the Bill that the Secretary of State informs the Assembly that he is laying the order before both Houses of Parliament and asks that it should do the same in the Assembly so that we can complete the whole process. I beg to move.