Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, when the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, rose to his feet he said that we had a debate on this very late at night. My memory is that it was a very full and interesting discussion even though it was late at night. All of the issues which have come up today were raised in that late-evening debate. As we heard, Amendment No. 14 would remove the Secretary of State's power to intervene in the exercise of functions by the Welsh Ministers or others where it appears to him or her that that might have a serious impact on water resources supply or quality in England. That power would be replaced by a duty to make representations to the Assembly in such circumstances. As I highlighted on Report, the subject of this clause is executive functions. After the separation brought about by the Bill, the Assembly will cease to be a corporate body and the executive functions will become the preserve of Welsh Ministers, not the Assembly. Therefore, the Assembly cannot decide whether to continue exercising the function or have regard to the representations of the Secretary of State. The Assembly will not be exercising this function. That said, Welsh Ministers will in the exercise of their functions relating to water have to have regard to the impact on Welsh water. Of course the Secretary of State will make representations to the Welsh Ministers on a government-to-government basis if they are considering an action that could have an adverse effect on English water. I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Llandudno, said, but we are talking about something that happened 50 years ago—