Legislative Competence Orders (LCOs)

IMPORTANT NOTE. We are currently in the process of updating this information in light of the Welsh referendum result. Click here for information on the result and what happens next. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Legislative competence is the legal authority to make laws and this authority must be obtained from the UK Parliament. It can only be acquired in the 20 devolved policy areas (Fields) and you can tell when that legislative competence has been obtained because a specific Matter will appear under the Field heading

There are two ways of acquiring legislative competence from Westminster:

  1. Matters can be inserted into the Fields in Schedule 5 directly by UK Acts of Parliament
  1. The Assembly can seek legislative competence itself via a Legislative Competence Order (LCO) which requests that additional Matters be added to the Fields in Schedule 5

It is through LCOs that the National Assembly for Wales can acquire further legal powers to make laws, by adding Matters into the Fields in Sch 5 of the 2006 Act. Click here to see Schedule 5. This is where you will find the detail of the areas in which the National Assembly for Wales can legislate.

Please remember that LCOs are not laws in themselves, they simply transfer the power to make laws from Westminster to Cardiff Bay. It is the Assembly Measures that are the laws.

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