Source: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/32/notes/division/7
Timestamp: 2019-12-13 13:26:59
Document Index: 259514470

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'arts 2', 'art 1']

Section 103: Referendum about commencement of Assembly Act provisions
377.This section allows a referendum to be held in Wales on whether those sections in the Act which give the Assembly power to pass Acts (“the Assembly Act provisions”), should come into force.
378.If the majority of voters in a referendum vote for the Assembly Act provisions to come into force, they are to be brought into force by commencement order made by the Welsh Ministers.
379.There is no power to bring the sections into force without the prior approval of the majority of voters in a referendum.
380.The section deals with the mechanism for calling a referendum.
381.Subsection (3) makes it clear that, if the majority of voters vote against the Assembly Act provisions being brought into force, this will not bar the holding of a later referendum on the same issue.
382.Subsection (4) provides that a recommendation to Her Majesty to make an Order initiating a referendum may only be made if the draft Order has been approved by the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Assembly.
383.Subsection (5) provides that any Assembly resolution to approve a draft Order in Council will only be effective if the number of Assembly Members voting for it represent two-thirds or more of the total Assembly seats (as opposed to the total number of Assembly Members voting).
Section 104: Proposal for referendum by Assembly
384.This section provides the mechanism under which the First Minister or a Welsh Minister can initiate a proposal that a referendum be held on bringing the Assembly Act provisions into force.
385.If a sufficient number of Assembly Members approve the proposal, the Secretary of State is required, within 120 days, to either lay before Parliament a draft Order in Council which will initiate a referendum, or give formal notice refusing to do so which sets out the reasons for that refusal.
Section 108: Legislative competence
399.The purpose of this section and Schedule 7 is to set out the extent of the Assembly’s power to pass Acts. The section calls this the Assembly’s “legislative competence”. Its legislative competence may be altered by Her Majesty making an Order in Council under section 109.
400.Subsection (1) makes it clear that within the limitations imposed by the Act an Act of the Assembly can have the same effect as an Act of the UK Parliament.
401.The Assembly’s power to pass Acts will be limited to the legislative competence given to it by this Act, which may be modified by Order in Council.
402.Subsection (2) means that if an Act contains a provision which is outside the Assembly’s legislative competence, that provision has no legal effect.
403.Subsections (3) to (6) identify when a provision of an Act will be within the Assembly’s legislative competence.
404.It will only be within competence if it satisfies the criteria in either section 108(4) or 108(5), and it complies with section 108(6).
405.In order to satisfy the criteria in section 108(4):
the provision in question must relate to one or more of the subjects listed under any of the headings in Part 1 of Schedule 7. (Section 109 allows Her Majesty to make Orders in Council listing further headings and subjects in Part 1 of Schedule 7, or changing or removing those which are already there); and
the provision in question must not fall within any of the exceptions listed in Part 1 of Schedule 7. For example, a provision in an Act which related to the subject of the Welsh Language (heading 20 in Part 1 of Schedule 7), but which sought to legislate on broadcasting would not meet the criteria in section 108(4)(a), because it would fall within the exception of “broadcasting” under heading 3 in Part 1 of Schedule 7; and
the provision in question must apply only in relation to Wales, and it must not confer, impose, change or remove (or give anyone else the power to confer, impose, change or remove) functions to be carried out in relation to countries other than Wales (e.g. England).
406.In order to satisfy the criteria in section 108(5):
the provision in question must be one which allows a provision contained in any Act of the Assembly (i.e. one which did meet the criteria in section 108(4)) or in an Assembly Measure, to be enforced, or be one which is otherwise appropriate for making such a provision effective; or
the provision in question must be one which is incidental to or consequential on a provision contained in any Act of the Assembly or Assembly Measure which does meet the criteria in section 108(4).
407.In order to comply with section 108(6):
the provision in question must comply with restrictions on the Assembly’s legislative competence which are set out in Part 2 of Schedule 7 to the Act. There are exceptions from these restrictions, which are set out in Part 3 of Schedule 7; and
the provision in question must form part of the law of England and Wales only (for example, the provision cannot form part of the law of Scotland); and
408.Subsection (7) lays down the test to be used to decide whether a particular provision in an Act of the Assembly relates to a subject listed under any of the headings in Part 1 of Schedule 7, and does not fall within any of the exceptions.
409.The correct approach will be to consider the purpose of the provision having regard to its effect in all the circumstances.
Section 109: Legislative competence: supplementary
410.The purpose of this section is to allow amendments to be made to Schedule 7 to the Act, so as to enhance, restrict or change the Assembly’s legislative competence to pass Acts.
411.Subsection (1) provides that Her Majesty may, by making an Order in Council, add further subjects and headings to Part 1 of Schedule 7. The Order in Council may also remove or change subjects or headings already listed.
412.Her Majesty may also amend Parts 2 and 3 of Schedule 7, which set out general restrictions on the passing of Bills, and exceptions to those restrictions respectively.
413.Subsection (2) provides that Orders in Council made by Her Majesty amending Schedule 7 can also make changes to enactments, including Acts of the Scottish Parliament and instruments made under those Acts, prerogative instruments, and other instruments or documents, where those changes are appropriate in connection with the amendment to Schedule 7.
414.Subsection (3) provides that Orders in Council under this section can make provisions which apply retrospectively.
415.For example, this power could be used to clarify the extent of a subject in Part 1 of Schedule 7, where there has been a legal challenge to the validity of an Act of the Assembly made in relation to that subject, and there is a need for legal certainty about the extent of the subject.
416.Subsection (4) provides that, except in relation to the first Order in Council amending Schedule 7 a recommendation to Her Majesty to make such an Order must only be made if the draft Order in Council has been approved by the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Assembly.
417.Subsection (5) makes it clear that if a change is made to Schedule 7, and thus to the Assembly’s power to pass Acts, the change is to have no effect upon Acts already passed (or approved, in the case of Acts which have been reconsidered and amended) by the Assembly. They will remain law. This is subject to any retrospective provision that may be made in the Order in Council.
The Welsh Consolidated Fund
442.Section 117 establishes a Welsh Consolidated Fund (WCF). The Fund will receive payments from the Secretary of State out of moneys voted by Parliament (section 118). The moneys voted by Parliament to the Secretary of State will be calculated having regard to the “Barnett Formula”, to determine what is known as the “Welsh Block Grant”. The Secretary of State will deduct the administrative expenses of the Wales Office from this, and pay the remainder into the WCF. The Secretary of State will be required, at least four months before the beginning of each financial year, to prepare and lay before the Assembly a written statement with an estimate of payments to be made into the Fund, and to the Welsh Ministers, First Minister and Counsel General, in that financial year (section 119). Under section 120, provision can be made so that certain categories of receipts are to be dealt with other than by payment into the WCF, and section 130 makes provision for receipts paid into the WCF by mistake which need to be recovered.
443.Sections 121 -123 make provision for the Welsh Ministers to borrow from the Secretary of State either to cover any short-term deficit in the Fund or to provide a working balance. The total of such borrowing may not exceed £500m at any given time. The Secretary of State will be required to prepare accounts in respect of loans issued under these powers.
444.Sections 124-129 are the provisions specifying the processes which must be complied with for expenditure out of the Fund to be regular. The norm is that sums may only be paid out of the WCF on the authority of a Budget resolution passed by the Assembly. There will be a small number of instances in which a sum may be paid out of the WCF without the need for a reference to it in a Budget motion, because the sum has been “charged on” the Fund by an enactment (for an example in this Act , see section 20(5)). As stated above, there is also special provision, in section 130, for monies that were paid into the WCF by mistake to be paid out of it without the authority of a Budget resolution. The only other exceptions to the principle that a Budget resolution of the Assembly is required before sums can be spent from the WCF are described in sections 127 and 128 (see below).
445.Section 125 sets out the requirement for an annual Budget motion (which may be moved only by the First Minister or another Welsh Minister) seeking authorisation for:
the amounts of resources that can be used on the “services and purposes” specified in the motion,
the amounts of accruing resources which may be retained (rather than being paid into the Welsh Consolidated Fund), and
the amounts of cash that may be issued from the Fund.
446.Section 126 permits one or more Supplementary Budget motions to be moved to vary the amount of resources that can be used for specified services and purposes in a particular financial year, or to add new services and purposes and allocate resources to them. A Supplementary Budget motion may also vary the amounts of resources that can be retained instead of being paid into the WCF, or authorise new retentions. Once a Budget motion has been approved by the Assembly and becomes a Budget resolution, sums may be paid out of the WCF in support of the services and purposes referred to in the resolution; it will be for the Auditor General for Wales, under section 129, to give approvals for sums to be paid out, if satisfied that the payment out will be in accordance with the relevant Budget resolutions.
447.As mentioned above, sections 127 and 128 provide exceptions to the general principle of no payments out of the Fund without a Budget resolution (or a provision charging the payment in question on the WCF). Section 127 deals with the situation where no Budget resolution has been adopted by the Assembly by the beginning of the relevant financial year. In the absence of such a resolution, resources for services and purposes may be used up to a specified level, determined as a fixed percentage of the preceding financial year’s provision for that service or purpose; in this way, a failure by the Assembly to pass a Budget resolution by the beginning of the financial year will not automatically lead to the public services funded by the Welsh Ministers exhausting their resources within a few days of the beginning of the financial year. Section 128 allows for resources to be used, up to a specified level, in emergency situations where Welsh Ministers consider the expenditure to be in the public interest and it is not reasonably practicable, for reasons of urgency, for a Budget motion to be put down to authorise the expenditure. In such a situation, the Welsh Ministers are required as soon as possible to lay a report before the Assembly explaining why they considered the action they took to be necessary.