Invitation to Edwina Hart MBE AM, Minister for Finance, Local Government & Communities, to submit further evidence on Home Office functions

Following your oral evidence on 5 December and the points you made about difficulties with consultation about Home Office responsibilities in Wales, the Commission would find it most helpful to have a paper from the Welsh Assembly Government setting out:

a.  the nature of the issues which have arisen

b.  the range of options available for addressing them and the pros and cons of each option.

At present it is not clear to us whether these are administrative/funding issues or whether for example there is a case for a transfer of functions or some other solution. To take this forward we would appreciate your assessment of the position and the most practicable solutions.

In order to allow time for the Commission to consider the implications of this and if necessary to seek evidence from other bodies in time to be included in our final recommendations in the autumn next year, it would be most helpful to have your paper by, say, 14 February.

December 2002