Simon Hart
Main Page: Simon Hart (Conservative - Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire)Department Debates - View all Simon Hart's debates with the HM Treasury
Legal Aid (Rural Wales)
Simon Hart Excerpts(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Williams
I agree with my hon. Friend completely on that point, and I am grateful for both interventions. They illustrate points that I will make a little later in my speech.
Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)
I intervene briefly, simply to say that in answer to a question of mine the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Jeremy Wright), stated that
“any criminal legal aid contract holder would be required to meet the obligations of the Welsh Language Act.”—[Official Report, 11 June 2013; Vol. 564, c. 280W.]
That sounds all right on paper, but does the hon. Gentleman share my concern that it is something of an afterthought?
Mr Williams
As I shall say later, the delivery in practice will be a different story. There is concern that the consultation period of eight weeks is too short and does not allow people fully to analyse the proposals, particularly when reflecting on the Government’s ambitious timetable not only to get the proposals authorised, but to start tendering the contracts by the autumn. Consultation is particularly critical in this case, given that the proposals can be enacted without further primary legislation, which is why it is opportune that we discuss such matters now.