WIREDGOV

The First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, yesterday set out a new legislative programme that includes measures to protect children, strengthen NHS governance, reform local government and lower the voting age.

The Welsh Government introduced new legislation to end the physical punishment of children in Wales. The bill is part of a package of measures to ensure children have the best start in life and provide support to parents. 

A bill was also be brought forward to establish duties of quality and candour in health and social care. This will place statutory obligations on all health organisations in Wales to be open and transparent and will ensure lessons are learned and improvements made where necessary. A new independent body will be created to give people a stronger voice for their experiences of health and social care services. 

The government brought forward a local government bill, which includes reform of local authority electoral arrangements, including reducing the voting age to include 16 and 17-year-olds.  

The way animals are treated is an important reflection of society and over the next 12 months, a bill has been introduced to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses on welfare grounds. 

The government also introduced a bill to make Welsh law more accessible. The Legislation (Wales) Bill is the first major step towards achieving a clear and well-organised statute book. 

First Minister Carwyn Jones yesterday said:

“The year ahead will be one of the busiest for us in legislative terms since Wales gained primary law-making powers.

“Making our statute book ready for EU exit is a big challenge for the Welsh Government and the National Assembly but we must not let this limit our ambitions. We will keep driving forward progress and delivering for the people of Wales.”

In addition to the Welsh Government’s legislative programme, the National Assembly is being asked to undertake a substantial programme of correcting regulations under the EU (Withdrawal) Act between October and March in preparation for EU exit.