Oral - The Welsh Assembly Government’s 2010/11 Legislative Programme

It is with great pleasure that I announce the Government’s final legislative programme of this Assembly. However, before doing so, I wish to pause and reflect upon the legislative achievements that have already been taken forward by this Government. Through the 'One Wales’ programme for Government, we have achieved a great deal for the people of Wales, and, where appropriate, we have accomplished this through legislation, making best use of the current devolution settlement. We have come a long way in a very short space of time, significantly extending the legislative competence of the Assembly, and, through our own primary legislation of Assembly Measures, we are creating change for the good of Wales. This has not been without its difficulties, as would be expected when the learning curve has been so steep.

However, the Government has delivered 12 legislative competence Orders, expanding the National Assembly’s legislative competence in a wide range of significant policy areas, including the Welsh language, the environment, vulnerable children and carers. Soon, we will be able to add to that list housing and local government.

It is through our Assembly Measures that we have been able to effect change in Wales for the people of Wales. To date, we have delivered eight Measures, all of which have received Royal Approval. Through the Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure 2009, we have extended the rights of learners between the ages of 14 and 19 in Wales. The Education (Wales) Measure 2009 provided children with the right to make appeals and claims of disability discrimination to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales. We have also tackled child poverty through our Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010, putting our commitment to its eradication on a statutory footing, and providing greater support to those families where children may be at risk. As a Government, we have also supported legislative proposals brought forward by backbench Members, and not only those that have simply complemented our own policies. We have been able, for example, to support Jonathan Morgan’s LCO on mental health and Ann Jones’s LCO on domestic fire safety, as well as Jenny Randerson’s Healthy Eating in Schools (Wales) Measure 2009.

The 2009-10 legislative programme was an ambitious programme that included a number of important proposed LCOs and Measures, some of which will not have concluded their passage through the Assembly until the end of this Assembly. These include the Proposed Carers Strategies (Wales) Measure, the Proposed Welsh Language (Wales) Measure, the Proposed Waste (Wales) Measure, and the Proposed Mental Health (Wales) Measure and the Proposed Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure, which are undergoing scrutiny by the Assembly at the moment. Later this afternoon, the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government will introduce the final item of the 2009-10 legislative programme, namely the Proposed Local Government (Wales) Measure.

In recognition of the capacity of the Assembly in the remaining weeks before the Assembly elections to scrutinise any new legislation, we have had to temper our ambitions for this final programme. We will aim to provide the Assembly with as much time as possible to scrutinise these items of legislation, while optimising the capacity of the Assembly to deliver our legislation and realise important changes for the better for the people of Wales. The final legislative programme may be smaller than in previous years, but it is by no means less important, and we are not taking our foot off the gas.

We will open this programme after the summer recess with a proposed Measure on safety on learner travel. This proposed Measure will improve the quality of contracted school transport and ensure that parents can have confidence in the transport that their children use to get to school. We will bring forward a much anticipated proposed Measure on housing. This long-overdue proposed Measure will provide Welsh Ministers with a broad range of intervention powers that are essential to strengthen the regulation of registered social housing providers, and will match those powers already available to the regulator in England. It will also enable local authorities to apply to the Welsh Ministers for approval to suspend the right to buy in areas of housing pressure.

The third and final proposed Measure of this fourth programme will address a number of important issues in the field of education. The proposed Measure on education will include provisions to improve school governance, which, in turn, will raise education standards. The proposed Measure will also deepen collaboration between schools and with other educational providers, and provide enabling powers for Welsh Ministers in relation to the federation of governing bodies of smaller schools.

In this fourth legislative programme, we will also seek to bring forward a proposed LCO on organ donation. The proposed Order is likely to require detailed preparation in collaboration with Whitehall. We have held a number of public debates on the issue of organ donation, underpinned in May 2009 with the formal consultation on options for changes to the organ donation system in Wales. The majority of responses that we received to the consultation supported a change to a soft opt-out system. We have had the debate, therefore, we now intend to take this important issue forward by seeking the necessary powers to be able to implement a Welsh system of organ donation that best meets the needs and wishes of the people of Wales.

Some may question our wish to take forward a proposed LCO with a referendum on the Assembly’s law-making powers on the horizon. Although I hope that all parties in the Chamber will do all they can to secure a 'yes’ vote in that referendum, as a Government we must govern responsibly, and therefore it is business as usual until such time as the referendum is held and won.

Since 2007 we have sought to make best use of the current devolution settlement. We remain a Government that is hungry for progress and, where necessary, progress through legislative change. Although the items that I have outlined today represent the final pieces of our legislative programme, they by no means represent the extent of our legislative ideas or aspirations. We will continue to pursue with the UK Government the most appropriate legislative vehicle for obtaining competence over the management of caravan and park home sites, as well as exploring legislative opportunities in other important areas such as the environment and biodiversity, promotion of public health, school organisation and educational tribunals, as well as social services.

Delivery of these items of legislation, and those outstanding from the previous programme, will mark the end of a period of great progress by, and indeed great maturity of, this Assembly. We are now confident in taking forward Welsh legislation—legislation that meets Welsh needs and that delivers change where change is needed for the people of Wales. This is the legislative programme that the Government proposes.