The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (Consequential Amendments and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make amendments which are consequential on amendments made by Schedule 4 to the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (“the 2021 Act”) to provisions in Part 5A of the Local Government Act 1972 (“the 1972 Act”) and which give effect to section 47 of the 2021 Act relating to remote attendance. They also make provision relating to the length of time certain local authority documents are required to be electronically accessible under Part 5A of the 1972 Act as modified by the Local Authorities (Coronavirus) (Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2020.

Part 5A of the 1972 Act makes provision in relation to access to meetings and documents of local authorities. The provisions of that Part of that Act are applied in numerous other enactments to certain committees of local authorities and to other types of body.

Section 47 of the 2021 Act requires local authorities to make and publish arrangements for the purpose of ensuring that local authority meetings are able to be held through remote means that enable persons who are not in the same place to attend the meetings remotely, if certain conditions are met.

Schedule 4 to the 2021 Act amends, among other provisions, Part 5A of the 1972 Act to require the electronic publication of certain local authority meeting documents, to give effect to the requirements under section 47 of the 2021 Act and for connected purposes.

Section 50 of the 2021 Act enables the Welsh Ministers to make regulations to make provision for and in connection with requirements concerning notices and other documents relating to local authority meetings and concerning the conduct of such meetings.

These Regulations are made up of four parts. Part 1 sets out the title and the commencement provisions.

Part 2 of the Regulations sets out consequential amendments to provisions of primary legislation.

Regulation 2 amends provisions of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004 relating to consideration by local authorities of reports made by the Auditor General for Wales in the public interest. The amendments provide that powers of local authorities under the amended Part 5A of the 1972 Act to exclude items from electronic publication or inspection or from rights of access do not apply to those reports. They also provide for the notices to be given of local authorities’ meetings to consider those reports to reflect requirements for notices to be given electronically and to reflect that meetings may be held through remote means.

Regulation 3 amends section 49 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, which relates to consideration by local authorities of public interest reports by the Auditor General for Wales on entities connected with those authorities. The effect of the amendment is that powers of local authorities under the amended Part 5A of the 1972 Act to exclude items from electronic publication or inspection or from rights of access do not apply to such public interest reports.

Regulation 4 amends the Local Government Democracy (Wales) Act 2013 to omit section 56 which inserted subsection (1ZA) into section 232 of the 1972 Act. That subsection has been omitted by provision made in Schedule 4 to the 2021 Act.

Regulation 5 amends the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 to provide that documents relating to local authority meetings which are required to be published electronically are to be treated as documents required by law to be open to public inspection for the purposes of paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 to the Defamation Act 1996 (c. 31).

Part 3 sets out consequential amendments to secondary legislation.

Regulation 6 amends the National Park Authorities (Wales) Order 1995 to give full effect to the provisions of the 2021 Act relating to remote attendance at meetings and the giving of electronic notices by making provision for notices of, and summonses, to meetings to be given electronically and for remote attendance.

Regulation 7 amends the Standards Committees (Wales) Regulations 2001. Those Regulations apply provisions of Part 5A of the 1972 Act to meetings of standards committees of local authorities, with modifications. The amendments made to those Regulations ensure those Regulations reflect the relevant changes made to the requirements of Part 5A of the 1972 Act by Schedule 4 to the 2021 Act.

Regulation 8 amends the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005 to apply to hearings of local authority licensing committees the amendments made to Part 5A of the 1972 Act relating to notices of hearings. Regulation 9 does the same in relation to the Gambling Act 2005 (Proceedings of Licensing Committees and Sub-Committees) (Premises Licences and Provisional Statements) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007

Part 4 makes provision relating to the Local Authorities (Coronavirus) (Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2020.

Regulation 10 specifies a period of six years during which local authorities are required to ensure that certain documents remain accessible by the public. These are documents relating to meetings held, and executive decisions taken, between 22 April 2020 and the end of 30 April 2021 which were published under temporary provision under the Local Authorities (Coronavirus) (Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2020.

Regulation 11 makes transitional provision relating to notices or other documents published or sent before 1 May 2021 in relation to meetings or hearings held on or after that date.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefit of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Local Government Democracy Division, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.