Item 7 is next, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (Public Bodies) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Social Justice to move the motion—Lesley Griffiths.

Motion NDM8621 Jane Hutt

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5, approves that the draft The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (Public Bodies) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 is made in accordance with the draft laid in the Table Office on 21 May 2024.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Llywydd, and I move the motion. The regulations before you today add a further eight named public bodies to section 6 of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, bringing the number of public bodies subject to the well-being duty in Part 2 of the Act to 56. This change will increase the scope and breadth of the sustainable development agenda in Wales, and strengthen the sustainable ways of working that are central to how our one Welsh public service works and responds to the challenges of today.

Since 2016, the public sector landscape in Wales has changed, and it is right that we assess whether additional public bodies warrant being made subject to the well-being duty. In 2022, we conducted a review of public bodies, in response to a recommendation from a Public Accounts Committee report in the fifth Senedd, and a recommendation in a statutory report under section 15(4) of the Act by the Auditor General for Wales.

Public bodies were assessed against the criteria used when the Bill was first being developed in 2014 to determine the 44 public bodies at that time. As set out in our consultation documents, certain public bodies do not meet the criteria, including advisory bodies, tribunals, inspectorate bodies, higher education institutions and further education corporations. The identity of the additional public bodies to be added by these regulations was consulted upon in 2022. The majority of respondents welcomed the move as timely, to create more consistency across the Welsh public sector. I'm grateful to officials from the eight public bodies, Audit Wales and the future generations commissioner's office for their support in the development of these regulations. 

One requirement imposed on these bodies as a result of being listed under section 6 will be to set well-being objectives. The regulations provide these must be set by 31 March 2025 to bring the objective setting in line with the future reporting cycles applying to all existing bodies. Additionally, the regulations set out the timescales for the initial examinations of the additional public bodies by the Auditor General for Wales, namely at least once over an initial six-year period between 2024 and 2030, thereby aligning the examination cycles for both these additional bodies and the existing bodies. If these regulations are approved today, they will come into force on 30 June. Diolch.

The Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, Mike Hedges.

Diolch, Llywydd. The LJC committee considered these draft regulations on 10 June, and the report and the Welsh Government response are available on today's agenda. As the Cabinet Secretary has just outlined, these regulations add eight further persons to the list of public bodies in section 6(1) of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The Cabinet Secretary is therefore exercising a Henry VIII power available to the Welsh Ministers. Our report contains seven technical and two merits reporting points. Four of our technical reporting points are made because we consider the drafting appears to be defective or it fails to fulfil statutory requirements. The other three technical reporting points highlight matters where we consider form or meaning requires further explanation. For example, our fourth technical reporting point notes that, in regulation 2(3), it is unclear why the new paragraph that is inserted after paragraph (d) of section 6(1) of the 2015 Act is referenced as '(dd)', rather than '(da)'. We were concerned that the use of '(dd)' may create an expectation that there are already paragraphs (da) to (dc) in section 6(1). The Welsh Government has acknowledged all of our technical reporting points. In relation to the issue I've just mentioned, the Welsh Government is going to change the reference in paragraph 2(3) from 'paragraph (dd)' to 'paragraph (da)' before the instrument is signed by the Cabinet Secretary. Thank you.

The scope of the Act is being extended to include these further eight public bodies at a time when the office of the future generations commissioner has lost staff due to funding cuts and hasn't received any additional funding to support the additional public bodies, which it had estimated to cost £15,000 per public body. The commissioner has been forced to put in a new delivery model to do, as he put it to the Equality and Social Justice Committee, the best he can to support these public bodies with the resources he's got. He's said that there's a strong case for additional resources because of the breadth and importance of this agenda, which you outlined in your statement. So, Cabinet Secretary, how will you ensure that these new responsibilities do not undermine the effectiveness of the work of the commissioner? Are there any plans, with some perhaps different funding coming down the road from Westminster available to the Welsh Government in future, to ensure that that office is properly resourced? We've heard from the previous future generations commissioner that she didn't have enough money to do the job she was given. Now, with these extra responsibilities, it is concerning to think that perhaps we're not fully supporting this most important role. Diolch.

I would like to thank the Chair of the LJC Committee and Sioned Williams for their contributions today. I'll just pick up on a couple of the points. As the Chair said, I have responded to and we carefully considered all the points raised. We accepted one point and made the necessary change. In relation to Sioned Williams's point around the future generations commissioner, as she said, he is absorbing the cost to support the eight additional public bodies, and he did receive a 5 per cent budget reduction in this year's budget, but he did confirm to us he'd be able to support the eight additional public bodies within his existing budget. I'm really grateful to him for agreeing to this. What we have done in supporting him is make sure that officials work closely with him, but also we've convened a series of knowledge exchange sessions. They will continue in the year ahead, to help support the public bodies. So, I'm very grateful for those two points that have been raised. As I said in my opening remarks, the approval of this motion will create much more consistency across the public sector, which has changed a lot since the Act was brought in—I think it will be 10 years next year, since the Act came forward—and will really increase the scope and breadth of the sustainable development agenda here in Wales. I urge Members to approve the draft regulations.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? No. The motion is, therefore, agreed.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.