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Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) Order 2006

My Lords, in the absence of my noble friend Lord Roberts of Conwy, I will make one or two comments on the amount of time it has taken for this order to drop into our laps. As the Minister pointed out, this order was first laid in February 2005. It has taken from February to December 2005 for it to come forward, and until now for it to reach both Houses. The Minister said that this was due to officials holding it up—that was the substance of what he said. It is unusual, however, because the expectation was that these orders would be laid,"““as soon as may be””," and 13 months later does not seem to be as soon as may be. Can the Minister give us a better explanation of why it has taken so long? What discussions were held with Ministers—not officials—on the implementation of the report, and why could the report not be implemented before the general election? The recommendations were all there in time for the general election, but somehow the implementation seems to have escaped that important date.