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Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee (Welsh Parliament)

Letter from the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee to the Convener, 17 December 2021

Dear Convener,

This is an issue which is also on our radar but because of other pressures, particularly around our scrutiny of statutory instruments and legislative consent memoranda, we have not yet been able to take stock of the impact of the Welsh Government using this procedure when bringing forward legislation about Covid-19. It is however an area of work that we identified in September as part of our early strategic planning which we will hopefully pursue next year. We do not therefore feel we could offer comments at this stage without being seen to prejudice our own findings in any future inquiry.

However, you may wish to be aware that all our reports on made affirmative instruments are located on our website and they may prove a source of useful information about our approach. The reports of our predecessor committee in the Fifth Senedd on such instruments are also available in a single location.

I would like to thank you for seeking our views on what is a particularly important matter for parliamentary scrutiny and ultimately the rule of law. It may well be that we will be a position to share each other’s findings at some point in the near future which may also provide an opportunity for us to engage more widely on all matters relating to the scrutiny of subordinate legislation.

Huw Irranca-Davies MS,

Chair