In a discussion about Schedule 7 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 here on Betsan Powys' blog, I discovered something that was news to me. Ednyfed Fychan [#7] said that Schedule 7 as originally enacted had been amended by means of this Statutory Instrument:
Statutory Instrument 2007 No. 2143
Some of the changes are quite minor, some not, but they are important because Schedule 7 is the definitive list of what the Assembly can and cannot legislate on after a Yes vote in the referendum.
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OPSI (the Office of Public Sector Information) should update the online version of all Acts of Parliament that are subsequently amended, with notes that explain the changes. Unfortunately they haven't yet done it (it should be available here) for the Government of Wales Act 2006. Schedule 5—which changes every few weeks as new Matters are added—is kept up to date on this page of the Assembly's website. But not Schedule 7, presumably since it is not yet in force. Consequently there is no "clean" version of Schedule 7 in its current form officially available anywhere.
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I thought I should rectify that, so I've produced an up to date version of Schedule 7 to read and download here:
Schedule 7 to GoWA 2006 (as amended by SI 2007 No. 2143)
Of course it's not official but, in the absence of any official version, this is all there is. People are free to copy and distribute it as they wish. And who knows, perhaps someone with more influence than me can persuade the powers that be to produce an official version.
3 comments:
First reaction: I'm angry.
Second reaction: Anyone fancy a sweepstake on when the referendum to replace Schedule 7 with something that actually works will be?
I remember reading somewhere that Schedule 7 can be amended by Order in Council, as has been done, but that this can only be done once, and this was intended to allow a tidying-up excercise with the minimum of fuss.
But after this initial tidying-up, further changes require a formal ammendment to the GOWA 2006 which will of course be anything but simple.
Sounds like our ever-helpful SoS has used our single get-out-of-jail-free card for some pretty petty issues so as to prevent it being used for more proactive uses.
Section 109 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 enables Schedule 7 to be amended. It does not limit the number of times this can be done.
So the card remains in play for use again, whether proactively, pettily or otherwise.
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