Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, for what reasons the draft Wales Bill would seek to change the criteria on which the Assembly could legislate outside its normal competence, as set out in section 108(5) of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

The purpose of the reserved powers model in the draft Wales Bill is to define clearly the legislative competence reserved to the UK Parliament. At the same time, it enables the Assembly to modify the law in areas that would otherwise be reserved to enforce, or otherwise give effect to, its legislation.

It is right that this freedom should be balanced by a test to be applied when the Assembly seeks to modify the law in areas that are not devolved. For that reason the draft Bill defines the circumstances in which it can do so and the test to be applied – the test of necessity. This gives the Assembly flexibility to modify the law in areas outside devolved competence in order to enforce its legislation effectively, whilst ensuring the effect on these areas goes no further than necessary.