Rt. Hon Peter Hain MP and Secretary of State for Wales gave a speech on the benefits of devolution at Cardiff’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies last week.
Mr. Hain sought to highlight how Wales is benefiting from devolution, after the 2006 Government of Wales Act ushered in political change initiating a faster incremental devolution of law making powers from Westminster to the Welsh Assembly Government.
Powers are now being devolved to the Assembly through Legislative Competence Orders (LCO).
Schedule 5 of the act contains ‘Fields’ which include ‘Matters’ on which the Assembly can pass legislative measures. Each passed LCO adds new ‘matter’, allowing the Assembly to pass legislation across Wales, much like the way an act of Parliament operates across the UK.
Mr. Hain stated that since the inception of the new system, legislative powers over fields as diverse as health, education, local government and transport have been passed to the Assembly, allowing Welsh ministers to effectively exercise democratic law-making.
Measures such as the NHS Redress Measure, which attempts to provide patients with fairer access to compensation when health services fail.
Alongside this, the Learning and Skills Measure, which attempts to alter the curriculum to provide a wider choice of academic and vocational study for 14 to 19 year olds, have been passed to improve the quality of life in Wales.
“This is excellent progress after barely two years of operating the new system”, said Peter Hain.
He further stressed the importance of devolution within a UK framework, creating a balance between empowering the Assembly and aiming for strategic interests at a UK level.
Mr Hain was critical of a referendum on full law making powers – a desire of many Welsh politicians – suggesting that it was totally impractical. He believes that the Assembly must channel new powers into good law making for many more years in order to be confident of a successful referendum.
However, un-devolved sectors such as energy are not able to enjoy the benefits of quick local governance.
When questioned about the matter after the speech, Mr. Hain replied that those concerned must be patient.
He emphasised that the detractors must realize that unlike a previous system of struggling legislations at Westminster, the new system is gradually providing the Assembly with powers to “help build a more democratic, prosperous, stronger and fairer Wales”. This, of course, is the aim of Welsh officials across the political spectrum.
