Legislative Competence Order

In Wales, a Legislative Competence Order (LCO; pronounced 'elco', Welsh: ) was a piece of constitutional legislation in the form of an Order in Council. It transferred legislative authority from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to the National Assembly for Wales. The LCO had to be approved by the Assembly, the Secretary of State for Wales, both Houses of Parliament, and then the Queen in Council.

Each LCO added a 'matter' to one of the 'fields' stated in schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. This is the list of areas in which the National Assembly for Wales may legislate. The only other way that schedule 5 can be amended is by the inclusion of provisions in UK parliamentary bills (referred to as 'Framework Powers' by the UK Government and 'Measure-making powers' by the National Assembly).

Each matter then gave the National Assembly for Wales permission to pass legislation known as an Assembly measure, which operates in Wales just as an act of Parliament operates across the UK (i.e. can be enforced by the Courts). An Assembly Measure allows provisions to be made in a certain area, e.g., Health and Social Services, Education, for the Assembly to pass.

The text that came with the LCO contains the actual title of the legislation (measure) that would have been passed by the Welsh Assembly later on, for example "Provision about the curriculum in schools maintained by local education authorities" would appear on the LCO and would later form the title of the Measure once written up.

Following a referendum held in March 2011, the assembly gained the ability to pass bills for acts of the Assembly in all twenty devolved areas without the need for the consent of the UK parliament.

The assembly also lost the ability to pass measures resulting in the LCO process becoming essentially redundant.

Discussion

Criticism

In a blog for the LSE, the system was criticised for being bureaucratic, cumbersome and has been described as "how to not do devolution".

Abolition

The replacement of the conferred powers model with a reserved powers model had a "cross-party consensus" in 2011.

List

National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 2007

The National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 2007, also known as the "Conduct Order" is a Legislative Competence Order and amendment of the National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order which made provision for the conduct of elections and the return of members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was put in place by the Secretary of State for Wales in 2007. In 2017, the enabling powers for the Order were devolved to the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government has further amended the order since.

It introduced the following changes:
*To the interpretation article and article 5 so that the references are updated to those in the Government of Wales Act 2006 or to the amendments to the Representation of the People Act 1983 effected by the Electoral Administration Act 2006.
*To the management of Postal Ballots in devolved elections, both for the purposes of election security, and to allow people in Mental Health institutions to vote in person, if their institution permitted it.
*To the requirement in article 39 that the office of the election agent for a regional election need no longer be located in the Assembly electoral region for which the person is the agent but can be located anywhere in Wales.
*To article 114 and 133 to reflect changes made by the Legal Services Act 2007
*To Schedule 1 to correct references to articles in the paragraphs of that schedule.
*To forms in the Appendix of Forms to correct errors or omissions and, in respect of the constituency and regional ballot papers, to update the format of those papers to assist voters.

No impact assessment was carried out for this instrument as it has no significant impact on the costs of business, charities, voluntary bodies or the public sector.

Replacement

In 2020, the Order was amended by the Welsh Government, in the 2020 Senedd Cymru (Representation of the People) (Amendment) Act. The enabling powers previously held by the Secretary of State for Wales had been devolved to the Senedd, meaning that Welsh Ministers were now responsible for the order.

In 2024, the Welsh Government mentioned it's intention to write a new piece of legislation covering the order's functions for passage before the Next Senedd election.

See also

*Measure of the National Assembly for Wales - the laws passed by the National Assembly for Wales once the LCO is passed.
* Act of Parliament
* Statutory Instruments
* Welsh law

References

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External links

Current list of LCOs

Government of Wales
Welsh laws
Constitutional laws of Wales
Orders in Council
United Kingdom administrative law