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Government of Wales Bill

When the Assembly was constituted as a corporate body, it was quite clear that one needed one Counsel General, but it became clear after a while that he had to perform two distinct roles. One role clearly was that he was there to advise the Assembly Government, who, however one looked at the issue and wrapped it up, existed as a government. The other role was advising the parliamentary Assembly and particularly the Presiding Officer. Marrying those two together was, to say the least, rather difficult and required a man of considerable standing to pull it off. Now that we are reconstituting the basis of the Assembly, and in effect saying that there should be a clear distinction between the Assembly Government on one hand and the Assembly on the other, the role of the Counsel General has to change. He cannot ride both horses and straddle that gap any more. He should be there primarily—I imagine that this is what the Government have in mind; certainly it is what I had in mind—to advise the Government on such matters as they require advice on, in exactly the same way as the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General here would advise the Government on how they should proceed. It is right that the Presiding Officer’s department should have its own legal staff and access to its own legal advice. I see nothing wrong with that. Advising the Assembly Government in the way in which the Government at Westminster or the Scottish parliamentary Government are broadly advised would therefore seem perfectly acceptable in Wales, provided that there is at the same time a growth in the legal advice available to the Presiding Officer and Members of the Assembly. I hope that we can proceed on that basis. But I am bound to say I share the view of the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, that, if ever there were matters for the Assembly, this would seem to be one of them. It is not a matter for the Attorney-General.