, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you, Peter. I'll just pick up on a few more points there, Ben, if I might. The first one is about the idea of publishing lists of meetings, and this is something that has come up in some of the evidence that we've taken, and you may be aware that in…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you very much, Peredur. I’ll bring in Peter now; he’s got a series of questions around the possible regulation of lobbying, but, if we don’t get through all of them, we might drop you some written communication after the meeting, Ben. Okay, Peter.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you very much. I'll bring Peredur in now. Peredur.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you. I've got one final question before I hand over to Peredur. Is there anything we need to do better in Wales in order to realise the full potential and benefits of lobbying, and, conversely, is there anything that can impede or block the benefits of…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you. Oftentimes, Members of the Senedd will meet with groups in order to ascertain information about particular areas that they may not be expert in themselves. Is there an ethical difference, do you think, between lobbying as information provision, as…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
That's really useful, what you said there when you listed some of the tangible impacts that lobbying has had on Government policy and Government direction. So, if you were looking to encapsulate what defines lobbying at its best, is that what you'd say, where…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
No, that's fine, thank you. That's very helpful. So, if I move on to the value of lobbying, and that's something that's come up really strongly through our consultation—if you want to call it 'advocacy' or some of the other terms that you use—that there is an…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you. Related to that, parliamentarians would often say that the strongest representations they receive, the most passionate and vociferous on all sorts of issues, are actually from constituents who come to meet them and seek change within Government…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Thank you. That was a really neat definition of lobbying there. We've struggled to come across one thus far, so very grateful for that indeed. That leads me on to my next question, really, which is whether you think a lobbyist necessarily needs to be a paid…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Okay, thank you, Ben. So, if I can kick off by asking you a question around the term 'lobbying' itself, because this is something that arose really strongly from our consultation responses—the need for some clarity around the definition. So, how would you…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 2
Welcome back to this meeting of the Standards of Conduct Committee, and our second evidence session this morning will be with our witness Ben Lloyd from the WCVA, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action. Welcome, Ben, and would you like to give us a short…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Thank you very much. We've completely run out of time now, but thank you, Naomi, and thank you, Gemma, for your contributions this morning. It's been really valuable to our work. A copy of the transcript will be provided to you both as soon as possible so…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Great. Thank you. If I could just ask one final question—the clock is really beating us down. It's about post-employment lobbying. This notion of the revolving door has come up in evidence that we've taken. Do you think there are any risks to the democratic…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Thank you, Peter. If I can just add some questions around this idea of the publication of meetings. When we've talked to registrars in other jurisdictions, it has just been members of the Government who've had to publish their meetings. I'm just interested…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Thank you, Pred. We're moving on to regulation now. I can see we've got under 10 minutes left on our session. Peter is going to lead on this area of questioning, but, before we start, just to not put too much pressure on you, Peter, we can always write to…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
I'm getting conscious of the time, so if I could just ask for a quick-fire question to finish on this before we move on to regulation.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Thank you, John. We'll move on to Pred now then. Pred.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Great. Thank you. Okay. I'll bring John in now. John.
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Okay. Thank you. And one final question from me, before we move on to John. Would you say that there are any characteristic aims or outcomes that constitute lobbying?
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Thank you. I'll just take you back to the first point of your answer there: would you say that a lobbyist would have to be a paid official, or could an unpaid volunteer also be classed as a lobbyist?
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Absolutely, and I know that we'll ask lots of questions on potential regulation later. That leads me nicely to the second area I wanted to probe with you, which is: who would you say can lobby and who can be lobbied?
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
Thank you, Naomi. I'll open with some questions about the nature of lobbying. So, you'll be aware that we've undertaken a consultation, and lots of the responses that we've received to date have highlighted the need for clarity around the definition of…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Inquiry into lobbying: Evidence session 1
So, let's go on to the first substantive item on our agenda, then: this is our inquiry into lobbying, evidence session one. I'd like to welcome Naomi Williams, who's the chair of Public Affairs Cymru, PAC, and I know that, Naomi, you may be joined by Gemma…
, Standards of Conduct Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
Welcome, members of the committee, to this meeting of the Standards of Conduct Committee. The meeting is bilingual and interpretation is available. We have apologies this morning from Natasha Asghar and we would like to welcome Peter Fox, who is substituting…
, Plenary
Debate on the Petitions Committee Report—'Mark Allen’s Law: Water safety and drowning prevention'
I just want to start by explaining my reasons for speaking in this debate today. As Members will know, prior to being elected, I was a teacher, and, in my 16 years as a teacher, each summer we would hold an assembly with Welsh Water where we would outline the…
