LC: Welsh government makes move towards clearer, simpler law

26 Jul 2017 12:04 PM

The Welsh Government has accepted the majority of the Law Commission’s recommendations found in our 2016 report on the Form and Accessibility of the Law Applicable in Wales.

The report made a number of recommendations to make the law made in Wales clearer, simpler and easier to access.

It proposed that significant areas of the law in Wales should be codified. It also made recommendations to allow the efficient passage of technical law reform through the Assembly and improve the publication of legislation, facilitating access to Welsh and English language versions of legislation.

Now in a letter, Mick Antoniw AC/AM, the Counsel General for Wales, has accepted or accepted in principle the vast majority of the recommendations in the report.

In the letter Mr Antoniw praised the report as a “helpful blueprint as to how the Welsh Government and others can take action to ensure the laws of Wales are more accessible” and pledged to implement reform in due course.

He agreed that “a sustained, long term programme of consolidation and codification of Welsh law would deliver societal and economic benefits, and is necessary to ensure that the laws of Wales are easily accessible”. A pilot programme to progress the work recommended in our report is under way and will run until 2018.

Public and Welsh Law Commissioner Nicholas Paines QC said:

“Having laws which people understand should be the foundation of any democracy and this move to simplify the law will be of great benefit to the people of Wales.

“We commend the Welsh Government for agreeing to implement our proposals which will make the law in Wales the most accessible in the United Kingdom.”

See the letters below: