Government of Wales Act 2006

Background

The legislation came about because of proposals from the Richard Commission, which were supported in a special party conference in 2004.

The specific details of the legislation were negotiated by First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain.

Provisions

The act has the following provisions:

• creates an executive body—the Welsh Assembly Government (known since May 2011 as the Welsh Government)—that is separate from the legislative body, that is, the National Assembly for Wales. The Welsh Government is therefore altered from being a committee of the National Assembly to being a distinct body
• forbids candidates both contesting constituencies and being on a regional list
• provides a mechanism for Orders in Council to delegate power from Parliament to the Assembly, which will give the Assembly powers to make "Measures" (Welsh Laws). Schedule 5 of the Act describes the fields in which the assembly has Measure making powers.
• provides for a referendum for further legislature competencies, to be known as "Acts of the Assembly", expanding the Assembly's legislative competence
• creates a Welsh Seal and a Keeper of the Welsh Seal (the First Minister)
• creates a Welsh Consolidated Fund
• creates the post of Counsel General as a member of the Welsh Government and its chief legal adviser.
• creates a Partnership Council for Wales to facilitate co-operation between Welsh ministers and local government in Wales.
• assigns to the monarch new functions of formally appointing Welsh ministers and granting royal assent to acts of the Assembly.

The bill received royal assent on 25 July 2006.

The part that provides for acts was brought into force, and the relating to measures and related Orders in Council ceased to have effect, on 5 May 2011 following the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum. The act was further amended to rename the assembly to Senedd Cymru, and further extend its legislative competence to the reserved matters model, by the Wales Act 2014.

Schedule 5 of the act

Schedule 5 of the act describes the 20 "fields" and "matters" in which the National Assembly for Wales had legislative competence, i.e. the ability to pass Assembly Measures. A field is a broad subject area, such as education and training, the environment, health and health services, highways and transport, or housing. A matter is a specific defined policy area within a field.

The assembly could gain further legislative competence by the amendment of schedule 5. There were two ways in which this can happen: either as a result of clauses included in legislation passed by an act of Parliament at Westminster, or by Legislative Competence Orders (LCOs) granted by Parliament in response to a request from the National Assembly itself (LCOs could be proposed by the Welsh Government, or by individual members, or by assembly committees, but had to be approved by the National Assembly before they could go forward). The result of either method was to amend any of the 20 fields by inserting specific matters. The assembly then had competence to pass legislation on those matters.

Schedule 5 was regularly updated as result of these two processes.

Schedule 5 became moot when the assembly gained the competence to pass acts, which were restricted to matters listed in schedule 7 rather than schedule 5, and lost the competence to pass measures.

Fields of schedule 5

Source:

• Field 1: agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development
• Field 2: ancient monuments and historic buildings
• Field 3: culture
• Field 4: economic development
• Field 5: education and training
• Field 6: environment
• Field 7: fire and rescue services and promotion of fire safety
• Field 8: food
• Field 9: health and health services
• Field 10: highways and transport
• Field 11: housing
• Field 12: local government
• Field 13: National Assembly for Wales
• Field 14: public administration
• Field 15: social welfare
• Field 16: sport and recreation
• Field 17: tourism
• Field 18: town and country planning
• Field 19: water and flood defence
• Field 20: Welsh language

Criticism

The Government of Wales Act 2006 was criticised by Plaid Cymru for not delivering a fully-fledged parliament.

Notes

References

References

1. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006)
2. (28 June 2024). "Making laws in Wales: from executive devolution to a reserved powers model".
3. Shipton, Martin. (2025-12-31). "Released archive material shows turmoil in Labour over extra powers for Wales".
4. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
5. (August 2006). "Government of Wales Act 2006".
6. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
7. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
8. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
9. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
10. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
11. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
12. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006)
13. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
14. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
15. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)
16. (2006). "GOVERNMENT OF WALES ACT 2006 — EXPLANATORY NOTES". The Stationery Office.
17. {{Cite legislation UK. (2006). (25 July 2006)