We have already looked at how to reference statutory instruments (SIs) from both the Westminster Parliament and the Scottish Parliament, as well as how to reference rules of court. This time, we will be considering SIs made in the Welsh Assembly, which are called Welsh SIs. These are still referenced in a similar way but there are some differences. In addition, SIs made at Westminster will still apply to Wales, so these will also need to be referenced.
Before we look at how to reference Welsh SIs, let’s review the background of the Welsh Assembly and what Welsh SIs are. As usual, skip this bit if you are already confident in your knowledge of it.
Welsh Assembly
The Welsh National Assembly meets at the Senedd building in Cardiff Bay, with a break for summer. Elected representatives to the Welsh Assembly are called Assembly Members and are elected every five years. The role of the Assembly is to represent the interests of the Welsh People, make Welsh laws, agree on Welsh taxes and hold the Welsh government to account.
The Welsh Assembly was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998, made in Westminster Parliament. This followed a referendum on devolution in 1997, asking whether Wales should have a separate Assembly.
Legislation made in the Welsh Assembly is referred to as Acts, but the Assembly also creates Welsh measures. You can read more about these and how to reference them in my blog here. These measures and Acts are not the same as law from Westminster as the Welsh Assembly does not have these powers; however, they are definitely important to bear in mind in your writing, particularly if you are doing a comparison of law from different jurisdictions.
These measures and Acts will also only apply to Wales, whereas legislation from Westminster Parliament can apply to all of the UK, just England, or even just Wales, although this is unlikely in light of the extent of the devolved powers to Wales. For example, although the Wales Act 2014 from Westminster Parliament only applied to Wales, this was because it was specifically about governance in Wales.
What are Welsh Statutory Instruments?
Welsh Statutory Instruments (Welsh SIs) are very similar to SIs in terms of what they are and how they are made. A piece of primary legislation must first be made to allow a Welsh SI to be created, as these are subordinate or secondary legislation. This piece of primary legislation is called the parent or enabling Act and allows Welsh Ministers to make the legislation set out in this Act. This delegation to Welsh Ministers means that secondary legislation can also be called delegated legislation.
The most common form of subordinate legislation in Wales is Welsh SIs, but may also be codes of practice, rules, schemes and guidance. Welsh SIs can be a variety of different things but will usually be either a regulation or order.
The role of Welsh SIs is to help law-making be more efficient, quicker and more accurate. It is not a good use of the Welsh Assembly’s time to completely draft out all legislation that needs to be created, so it is better if certain, more complex elements are instead drafted by the Ministers away from the full Assembly. The parent or enabling Act will set out details for what is being drafted and set limitations on the Ministers’ powers.
The Welsh Ministers drafting the legislation is quicker as it does not require the entire Assembly’s time and allows multiple Welsh SIs to be drafted at once by different Ministers or groups of Ministers.
Welsh SIs also make the law-making process more accurate as they can be assigned to different Ministers depending on their area of expertise. This expertise means that they should be able to navigate the topic easily and draft the Welsh SIs in a way that makes sense and is appropriate to resolve the issue being covered.
What are the Different Types of Welsh Statutory Instruments?
Now that we know what Welsh SIs are and what the role of them is, we will be looking at the different types. This will divide them up by the type of review procedure they will be subject to before coming into force.
The first of these that we will be looking at is subordinate legislation subject to the negative procedure. This means that the SI is laid before the Assembly, who must then make any objections within 40 days. If none are made, then the SI stays in force.
The next type of review procedure is subordinate legislation subject to the affirmative procedure, which is laid before the Assembly as a draft and must be approved before it can become law.
Subordinate legislation may also be subject to no procedure, which means that no action or lack of objection is needed for it to come into force. It may be laid before the Assembly or not, depending on the exact type of procedure being followed.
How Do You Reference Welsh Statutory Instruments?
The method for referencing Welsh SIs is very similar to that for SIs. As a reminder, the format of SIs is:
Name | Year, | SI Number
For example:
Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amendment of Minimum Age) Order 2004, SI 2004/3166.
The format for Welsh SIs is:
Name | Year, | SI Number | (Welsh SI Number)
For example:
The Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 (Commencement No 2) Order, SI 2009/2819 (W 245).
As you can see, the only difference is that the SI number is now followed by a Welsh SI number in brackets.
So, there are four parts to the reference. The first part is the name, which can be abbreviated, as you can read in my blog OSCOLA Referencing Summary for Statutory Instruments.
The next part is the year, which is the year of the Welsh SI and is followed by a comma.
You also need to put in the SI number after the comma, followed by the Welsh SI number in brackets in the format “W 000”, with the 000 being replaced with the actual number.
An SI made at Westminster that applies to Wales should simply be cited as a normal SI.
Wrapping Up
Welsh SIs are quite simple to cite, especially if you learn how to do all the different types of SI at the same time, as they are very similar. Next time we will be looking at how to reference SIs from Northern Ireland, so check back in two weeks!
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