, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Questions from party leaders now. Leader of the Conservatives, Andrew R.T. Davies.
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Good afternoon and welcome to this afternoon's Plenary meeting. The first item this afternoon will be questions to the First Minister, and the first question is from Hefin David.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Diolch yn fawr.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I haven't had any direct discussions with the Government on this. Maybe something we haven't outlined to you is that Siwan sits on a joint assurance board with Welsh Government. You can explain how that has met in the context of this Bill, and whether…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
—consider unknown unknowns there. So, I'm unsighted—
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, you're almost tempting me to—
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Yes, and you'll have to pose that to the Member in charge. So, it's a wider discussion about how the election went, how the change went, how the implementation of everything went, and whether anything should change for the future. I would expect the Welsh…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I probably don't have a view on whether there should be a duty in here for the Welsh Government to undertake its review. Post-legislative scrutiny is a good model to follow generally, but the review, in this Bill, is quite a bit broader than…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
We haven't explored it in detail is how I'd answer that question at this point, yes.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I think the Business Committee, as well as myself personally, took the view that the Bill could consider the opportunity to change the title in English to 'Speaker' rather than 'Presiding Officer'. My experience, both within Wales and certainly outside…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Yes. Siwan, you can just remind me of exactly how that is constructed in the legislation, but it does have a kind of order to it.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
—but I think that the additional Presiding Officer also is caught now in the discussion.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, no. I'm loath to correct you, Darren—
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
And the Llywydd's Committee.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
As the Llywydd, I am not a member of that committee at this point. Siwan, do you want to outline some of the issues around pre-appointment hearings?
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I probably don't have a view on whether they should be single term or not as appointments. It's good to refresh on a frequent basis.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I would make the point that this commission is different to any other commission, in that it will have far more interest to political parties and potential politicians—direct interest in how constituencies are configured. So, the principle of retaining…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I don't think it's in the legislation, is it?
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, yes, of course. I said it's a reduced possibility; the possibility doesn't disappear.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
No, I agree with that point of principle. What I would also say is that one thing that you should bear in mind is that the desire for recall for individual Members may be lessened in a Senedd of four years as compared to five years, particularly the closer…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
The answer to that is 'I don't know,' because by-elections are more difficult in the context of a list system, so by-elections and triggering by-elections, which is the recall system used in the House of Commons, appears to be quite a straightforward…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I think that's a good point to reflect on, because we certainly wouldn't want to be in a system where, if this system was retained currently, it would be possible to recall a constituency Member but not possible to recall a Member on a regional list. So, yes…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I'm not an expert in working out whether there are mechanisms that are easily implemented to have recalls in a list system. I think, if I'm right, the Business Committee gave some thought to this and decided not to recommend anything for this particular…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Yes, it could.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
If a constituency has nobody that can represent it, that is an issue of some concern to those people who are electors in that constituency and also probably to the workings of the Senedd at any point, because it will change possibly quite dramatically the…
