Earlier today the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum were laid before the Senedd.
This is the second Bill of the Government’s programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law. It contributes to our objectives by bringing together and formalising:
- the procedural arrangements for making Welsh subordinate legislation; and
- the requirements for publishing Acts of Senedd Cymru and all Welsh subordinate legislation.
The Bill also repeals, amends and disapplies in relation to Wales provisions and enactments that are no longer of practical utility or benefit. Such “statute law repeals” have been a feature of the work of the Law Commission in years gone by but not done in recent years. Removing unnecessary provisions from the statute book can help to “declutter” it and bring clarity about the law that is relevant to Wales.
Finally, this technical Bill makes minor amendments to the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019. This is because of our experiences of using that Act since it was passed and because of the codified arrangements being introduced for making and publishing Welsh legislation.
I will be making a legislative statement in Plenary tomorrow that will provide greater detail on all of these matters. I look forward to working with Members as the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill is scrutinised by the Senedd.
