National Assembly For Wales - Powers and Status

Powers and Status

The National Assembly consists of 60 elected members. They use the title Assembly Member (AM) or Aelod y Cynulliad (AC). The executive arm of the National Assembly for Wales, the Welsh Government, has been a Labour administration led by First Minister, Carwyn Jones, since May 2011. The previous administration (then known as the Welsh Assembly Government), had been a coalition between Labour—led by First Minister, Carwyn Jones—and Plaid Cymru—led by Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones — from December 2009 and to May 2011.

The executive and civil servants are mainly based in Cardiff's Cathays Park while the Assembly Members, the Assembly Commission and Ministerial support staff are based in Cardiff Bay where a new £67 million Assembly Building, known as the Senedd, has been built.

One important feature of the National Assembly until 2007 was that there was no legal or constitutional separation of the legislative and executive functions, since it was a single corporate entity. Compared with other parliamentary systems, and arrangements for devolution in other countries of the UK, this was unusual. In practice, however, there was separation of functions, and the terms "Assembly" and "Assembly Parliamentary Service" came into use to distinguish between the two arms. The Government of Wales Act 2006 regularised the separation when it came into effect following the 2007 Assembly Election.

Initially, the Assembly did not have primary legislative or fiscal powers, as these powers were reserved by Westminster. The Assembly did have powers to pass secondary legislation in devolved areas. Sometimes secondary legislation could be used to amend primary legislation, but the scope of this was very limited. for example, the first Government of Wales Act gave the Assembly power to amend primary legislation relating to the merger of certain public bodies. However, most secondary powers were conferred on the executive by primary legislation to give the executive (i.e., Ministers) more powers, and the Assembly has had wider legislative powers than appearances might suggest. For example, the Assembly delayed local elections due to be held in 2003 for a year by use of secondary powers, so that they would not correspond with Assembly elections. In 2001 the UK parliament used primary legislation to delay for one month local elections in England during the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic.

The Assembly gained limited primary legislative powers following the 2007 election and the passage of the Government of Wales Act 2006. These laws are known as Assembly Measures and can be enacted in specific fields and matters within the legislative competency of the Assembly. New matters and fields can be devolved by Acts of the UK Parliament or by LCOs approved by Parliament.

While in principle the Assembly has no tax-varying powers, it can influence the rate of Council Tax set by local authorities, which are part-funded by a grant from the Welsh government. It also has some discretion over charges for government services. Notable examples where this discretion has been used to create significant differences from other areas in the UK include:

1. Charges for NHS prescriptions in Wales — these have now been abolished.
2. Charges for University Tuition — are different for Welsh resident students studying at Welsh Universities, compared with students from or studying elsewhere in the UK.
3. Charging for Residential Care — In Wales there is a flat rate of contribution towards the cost of nursing care, (roughly comparable to the highest level of English Contribution) for those who require residential care.

This means in reality that there is a wider definition of "nursing care" than in England and therefore less dependence on means testing in Wales than in England, meaning that more people are entitled to higher levels of state assistance. These variations in the levels of charges may be viewed as de facto tax varying powers.

This model of more limited legislative powers was partly due to the fact that Wales has had the same legal system as England since 1536, when it was merged with England. Ireland and Scotland were never merged by England, and so always retained some distinct differences in their legal systems. The Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly both have deeper and wider powers.

The Assembly inherited the powers and budget of the Secretary of State for Wales and most of the functions of the Welsh Office. It has power to vary laws passed by Westminster using secondary legislation. Cheryl Gillan, who represents the English constituency of Chesham and Amersham, in the Westminster Parliament is currently the Secretary of State for Wales.

Following a referendum on 4 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law making powers, without the need to consult Westminster. On the 3rd July 2012, the Welsh Assembly passed its first act, the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Bill.