Welsh Government launches consultation on Bill aimed at repealing redundant provisions across statute book
The Welsh Government has launched a consultation on the Statute Law (Repeals)(Wales) Bill, which is intended to "declutter" the Welsh statute book.
The Government said the Bill is part of a programme to improve the accessibility of Welsh law and would "tackle problems with the complexity of the law and the disorganised state" of the government's "vast and sprawling" statute book.
"The problems are caused not only by the sheer volume of legislation but also because that legislation has been amended, re-amended and re-made in inconsistent ways over time", a consultation document reads.
"Sometimes those changes can result in legislative provisions which are no longer necessary. Provisions can also fall out of use or are never commenced (often because other circumstances have rendered them unnecessary)."
The consultation document claims that the Bill will help improve the accessibility of Welsh law by modernising and simplifying the law, reducing the size of the statute book and making it easier to navigate.
"This saves the time of lawyers and other users of legislation, helps to avoid unnecessary costs and stops people being misled by obsolete laws. It is anticipated a Bill such as this will feature in most Welsh Government programmes to improve the accessibility of Welsh law."
The proposed repeals and amendments in the Bill have been selected on the basis that they deal with provisions which:
- are obsolete, spent or otherwise no longer of practical utility;
- are unlikely to be commenced, having remained un-commenced for a period of time over which the original context has changed; or
- are otherwise unnecessary (for example, where the end is met by some other means).
In a statement on the consultation, the Welsh Government’s Counsel General, Mark Antoniw, said: “Through this consultation, I am keen to understand if the proposed repeals are helpful, and whether there are any consequences of repeal that we need to be aware of. I also welcome views on whether there are other provisions we should consider including in this or a future Bill."
He added: “Bills such as this one used to be a regular feature in the UK Parliament, but unfortunately, we have not seen one being taken through there for a number of years now. I anticipate a Statute Law (Repeals) Bill will feature in most Senedd terms.”
The consultation page can be found here.
Adam Carey
