Shadow Counsel General and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has questioned the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, Mick Antoniw MS, over proposals for the Welsh Tribunals Unit to become a non-ministerial department.
The Law Commission published its final report on Devolved Tribunals in Wales last December and, speaking in yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood asked the Counsel General to respond.
He said:
“Although there is no absolute doctrine of Separation of Powers in the UK, the concept of Separation of Powers between the legislature, i.e. Senedd; Executive, i.e. Welsh Government; and the Judiciary has long applied in and across the UK, to prevent the concentration of power by providing checks and balances
“Last September, referring to the Law Commission consultation paper on ‘Devolved Tribunals in Wales’ to help shape the Tribunals Bill for Wales, designed to regulate a single system for Tribunals, I asked you for your initial response to the consultation paper's proposals to ‘reform the Welsh Tribunals Unit, the part of the Welsh Government which currently administers most devolved tribunals, into a non-ministerial department’.
“Last December, the Law Commission published its final report on Devolved Tribunals in Wales, which included that 'we are persuaded that the non-ministerial department model is the one that should be adopted for the future administration of the system of devolved tribunals in Wales'.
“Although this also stated: 'The tribunals service should be operationally independent from the Welsh Government', your subsequent Written Statement on Devolved Tribunals in Wales only states that:
'The Welsh Government strongly endorses the fundamental principle of the Law Commission’s recommendations for a unified, single, structurally independent system of tribunals in Wales'.
“What conclusions have you therefore now reached after considering the Law Commission's findings regarding this specific point?”
The Counsel General replied:
“The points that the Member raises are absolutely fundamental, and that is that that part of the justice system has to be independent of Government, not only seen to be, but, equally so, I think, administratively separate from Government. Of course, there are relationships, as you have with the justice system and with the Government and in respect of that funding, but it has to be a model that ensures the independent operation of the Welsh Tribunals unit, of that part of the justice system, and that the appointments to it, and in addition, importantly, the president of Welsh Tribunals and the functions that that person would carry out, are again those that have the full underlying principles of the rule of law requiring the independence of judiciary and those who participate within it.”
