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Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 94:"Page 64, line 15, at end insert—" ““(   )   Any person making a payment in accordance with this section may attach such conditions as he thinks appropriate and may specify the consequences that will or may occur if those conditions are not met.”” The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 94 would insert a new subsection in Clause 117. This is a probing amendment. Clause 117 deals with payments made from the UK Government to the Welsh Assembly Government. It covers payments by the Secretary of State to the Welsh Consolidated Fund and payments by Ministers and government departments to Welsh Ministers, the First Minister or the Counsel General. But Clause 117 does not say whether any conditions can be attached to those payments and, just as importantly, what the consequences would be of the conditions not being met. The purpose of this probing amendment is to ascertain the extent to which the Government will be able to have any control over the use of money which is transferred to the Welsh Assembly Government. That is particularly relevant in the case of payments under Clause 117(2) which is designed, as I understand it, to cover the case where UK Ministers wish to have one of their functions carried out by Welsh Ministers. Having made the payment, the money will generally go into the Welsh Consolidated Fund from where it can be spent only in accordance with Clause 123; that is, in accordance with a Welsh budget resolution or an enactment. It seems that once the money has left the hands of the UK Government, they have no further say in how the money is spent. I confess to being something of a novice when it comes to the rules of public accounting, especially when associated with devolution. So my probing amendment is designed to elicit from the Government a statement on the respective powers and responsibilities of UK and Welsh Ministers when money flows from UK coffers to Welsh coffers. I beg to move.