Wales Devolution Monitoring Report January 2006 LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................................7 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.......................................................................................7 SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION............................................................................................8 CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS..........................................................................................10 1. PUBLIC POLICY ..............................................................................................................11 1.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................11 1.2 HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES ...................................................................................11 1.3 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORT ................................................................14 1.4 EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING ..........................................................................16 1.5 CULTURE, WELSH LANGUAGE AND SPORT ...................................................................17 1.6 SOCIAL JUSTICE AND REGENERATION ..........................................................................20 1.7 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES ...............................................................22 1.8 EQUALITY ...................................................................................................................23 1.9 ENVIRONMENT, PLANNING AND THE COUNTRYSIDE.......................................................25 1.10 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................27 2. THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS .......................................................................................29 2.1 PRIMARY LEGISLATION ................................................................................................29 2.1.1 2005 Acts giving powers to the Assembly ........................................................29 2.1.2 Brief summary of the 2005 Acts giving powers to the Assembly......................30 2.1.3 Other powers of the Assembly in relation to the 2005 Primary Legislation......35 2.1.4 The effect of the proposals in the Government White Paper: Better Governance for Wales on legislation enacted in 2005 .....................................................35 2.2 ASSEMBLY GENERAL SUBORDINATE LEGISLATION ........................................................39 2.2.1 The Nature of subordinate legislation...............................................................39 2.2.2 Publication of Non-SI Subordinate legislation: The Assembly leads all Government Departments in the UK ................................................................................40 2.2.3 General Statutory Instruments made by the Assembly ....................................41 2.2.4 General SIs made by central government under Acts giving powers to the Assembly: .........................................................................................................................42 2.3 THE GOVERNMENT OF WALES BILL 2005: GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE BILL .................42 2.3.1 The New Assembly...........................................................................................42 2.3.2 The Assembly’s work........................................................................................43 2.3.3 The Welsh Assembly Government ...................................................................44 2.3.4 Orders in Council ..............................................................................................44 2.3.5 The Measures...................................................................................................46 2.3.6 Acts of the Assembly under Part IV of the Bill..................................................46 2.4 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................46 4 Wales Devolution Monitoring Report January 2006 3. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE BUDGET ........................................................48 3.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................48 3.2 ASBP MERGERS ........................................................................................................48 3.3 SCIENCE POLICY.........................................................................................................49 3.4 WALES: A VIBRANT ECONOMY.....................................................................................50 3.5 THE BUDGET ..............................................................................................................50 3.6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................52 4. INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS ..........................................................................53 4.1 GENERAL....................................................................................................................53 4.2 PREPARATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF WALES BILL ...................................................53 4.3 THE WELSH AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT ..................................................................54 4.4 THE ‘NEW PERMISSIVE APPROACH’ TO LEGISLATION FOR WALES....................................55 4.5 IMPLICATIONS OF THE BILL FOR INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS.................................56 4.6 PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS OF THE BILL .....................................................................57 4.7 FINANCIAL ISSUES: THE COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW AND EU OBJECTIVE 1 ......58 4.6 OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ISSUES ..........................................................................59 5. RELATIONS WITH EUROPE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT .........................................61 5.1 EUROPE .....................................................................................................................61 5.1.1 The EU Budget and Structural Funds...............................................................61 5.1.2 Relations with other Regions and Governments ..............................................62 5.1.3 Wales European Centre (WEC) .......................................................................64 5.1.4 Subsidiarity Monitoring Network of the Committee of the Regions ..................64 5.1.5 Conclusions ......................................................................................................65 5.2 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ..................................................................................................65 5.2.1 Reforms and Improvements .............................................................................65 5.2.2 Finance .............................................................................................................67 5.2.3 Elections ...........................................................................................................68 5.2.4 Emerging Issues ...............................................................................................69 5.2.5 Conclusions ......................................................................................................69 6. ELECTIONS, PARTIES AND PUBLIC ATTITUDES.......................................................70 6.1. ELECTIONS .................................................................................................................70 6.2. PARTIES ..........................................................................................................................71 Labour...............................................................................................................................71 Conservatives ...................................................................................................................73 Liberal Democrats.............................................................................................................73 Plaid Cymru ......................................................................................................................74 6.3. PUBLIC ATTITUDES...........................................................................................................74 6.4. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................77 5 Wales Devolution Monitoring Report January 2006 7. THE ASSEMBLY AND THE MEDIA................................................................................79 7.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................79 7.2 RETRENCHMENT .........................................................................................................79 7.3 TRINITY NOT MIRRORING LOCAL DEMOCRACY?..............................................................80 7.4 ROLLING OUT THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES STRATEGY....................................................81 7.5 ALL CHANGE FOR INDEPENDENT TELEVISION PRODUCERS?..........................................83 7.6 CLOSURE OF SGRIN ....................................................................................................84 7.7 S4C AND BBC WALES – DANCING WITH WOLVES?.......................................................85 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................87