First, on the absence of part 4 of schedule 19, it will be created under Clause 145(6) the first time a cross-border authority is added to schedule 19. Subordinate legislation to the Scotland Act 1998 contains a list of Scottish cross-border bodies, so that they are easily identifiable. They include British Waterways, the British Wool Marketing Board, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and its appeals panel, and more. However, there is not an equivalent list for Welsh cross-border bodies, so we need to develop a different approach. Not only do we have no schedule; we have nothing about Wales to put in it right now, but we are working on that.

The cross-border authorities are public bodies that have a mixture of devolved and reserved functions, which operate in more than one nation. They have to be treated as a separate category of public authority, distinct from Scottish, Welsh or English bodies. Because they have devolved as well as reserved functions, we need to say who has the power to impose specific duties on them. It is intended that that will be done case by case.