We are pleased the Minister has sought to provide further information on his intentions for replacing the provisions of GOWA sec 79.   We are pleased to see a draft amendment as per our recommendation in paragraph 15.

However, as regards to the issues we raised in our previous submission, we consider that the Minister has not addressed the points in our previous submission and our recommendations 16, 18, 19 and 20.

In particular, we still consider that the Government should commit to further amendments to GOWA in order to meet our concerns in paragraph 14 and the recommendation in paragraph 18 with regard to OWOP.

We would strongly recommend that questions in regard to these other amendments are raised with the Minister in scrutiny, in order that any of his commitments are on record.

The draft amendment allows the Government to fulfil its duty for sustainable development by delivering less than required under the current Government of Wales Act. We do not think the amendments as stated , particularly in sub section 3, will be sufficient to fully replace important provisions of the current scheme.

Regards,

Anne Meikle

Chair of Sustainable Development Alliance