Interpretation

I beg to move amendment 84, in clause 151, page 111, line 8, after ‘person’, insert

‘other than the Assembly Commission’.

This amendment would provide for the National Assembly for Wales Commission not to be a “relevant Welsh authority”; accordingly, a Minister of the Crown (not the Welsh Ministers) would have power to make an order to add the Commission to Schedule 19 or to impose specific duties on it.

With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments 85 and 86.

The Government amendments ensure that a Minister of the Crown is the only person able to impose specific duties on the National Assembly for Wales Commission. That is at the request of the commission and is consistent with the position for the equivalent Scottish body—the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. From a constitutional point of view, it would not be appropriate for the Scottish or Welsh Ministers to impose specific duties, as members of the Executive, on parts of the legislature, so those specific duties can come only from a Minister of the Crown.

Amendment 84 agreed to.

Amendments made:85, in clause 151, page 111, line 12, after ‘authority’, insert ‘or the Assembly Commission’.

This amendment would provide for the National Assembly for Wales Commission not to be a “relevant cross-border authority”; accordingly, a Minister of the Crown (not the Welsh Ministers) would have power to make an order to add the Commission to Schedule 19 or to impose specific duties on it.

Amendment 86, in clause 151, page 111, line 14, at end insert—

‘( ) The Assembly Commission has the same meaning as in the Government of Wales Act 2006.’.—(The Solicitor-General.)

This amendment would define “the Assembly Commission” in amendments 84 and 85 as the National Assembly for Wales Commission or Comisiwn Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru.

Clause 151, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.