Commission on the Powers and Electroral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales

4th Public Meeting held at Llandrindod Wells Thursday 8th May 2003

Record of Written Questions and Opinions

"Poor communications within Wales are a serious problem. The Welsh Assembly should have powers over the Strategic Rail Authority. The Assembly should also have the necessary powers to encourage, develop and re-instate the rail network within Wales".

STRATEGIC RAIL AUTHORITY WITHIN WALES

In the light of recent noises from the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) it has become more imperative that the Welsh Assembly has powers over this body where it operates within Wales. Communications of all kinds in Wales leave a great deal to be desired and the fact that the SRA continues to operate under the aegis of the Westminster Government cannot be helpful. Cuts in the level of rail services would be a disaster for Wales.

The Scottish Parliament has powers over the SRA where it operates in Scotland and has thus made notable progress, including the re-opening of part of the "Waverley Route" which ran from Edinburgh to Carlisle via Galashiels and Hawick. These powers are needed for Wales too.

Moreover, the Welsh Assembly should have the powers to create the necessary primary legislation fo rthe remaking of rail routes which were extinguished under Beeching about 40 years ago. It could never have been envisaged then how Wales would develop, still less that there would be a Welsh Assembly.

Without the ability to develop links and communications with the rest of Wales, the main beneficiaries of the development and financial input which is taking place around Cardiff will be the people of Bristol, Gloucestershire and Bath.

ENGLISH REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES

Undoubtedly, the concept of nationhood which as accrued to Wales as the result of the Assembly will be diminished by the Introduction of Regional Assemblies in England. It is therefore important that the Welsh Assembly takes on the mantle of powers to create primary legislation, the more so in the light of the recent cabinet reshuffle farce which has been taking place in Westminster. The people of Wales would be justified in feeling insulted if they once again became just another region of "Greater England".

CABINET RESHUFFLE, JUNE 2003

This peculiar constitutional experiment initiated by Mr Blair has left a trail of confusion in its wake, with people uncertain at one point, whether there was even a Secretary of State for Wales or not! It seems that the Secretary of State will now be part time, which in the light of present arrangements for the governance of Wales does not seem very satisfactory. I am also led to believe from media reports that the civil servants from the old Welsh Office are now employed by the new Office for Constitutional Affairs but their salaries are still paid by the Welsh Assembly! This is hardly a sensible state of affairs.

Of course, if the Welsh Assembly should aspire in time to be, a full blown Parliament, then the role of the Secretary of State could indeed be diminished without detriment.

Must there be a referendum before consideration can be given to the increased powers for the Welsh Assembly?"

"So much more could be achieved if lack of capacity (too few AMs) was not an issue of concern! If Wales is to be properly served, then two problems must be immediately addressed:

1. More Welsh AMs
2. Tax varying and legislative powers granted – on the Scottish Model.

1. Will the Welsh assembly allocate more resources, both financial and human, to combating domestic violence, especially with regard to outreach work?

2.    Will the Assembly resource Information centres, with adequate accommodation and human resources, to support ongoing awareness raising to the community and support for domestic violence victims and survivors?

1. How can the Welsh Assembly be brought closer to the people of Wales? Even a Powys County Councillor I feel that in many ways the real interest of the Assembly in Wales stops at the Brecon Beacons.
2. How can relationships be improved between the Assembly and Local Government? There seems be a general attitude of "them and us" evidenced by what I hear is said in the LGA and which is reflected in the Powys County Council response to the Richard Commission.

Matters could be improved by having effective regional offices which could form a focus for meeting civil servants and AMs in Mid and North Wales. This is particularly important given the public transport difficulties in rural Wales

As a back bench County Councillor I have little or no personal contact with the Assembly other than to be told of the funds which are dispensed to the Council from time to time. Having said that I do receive support from Kirsty Williams AM in dealing with case work in the division which I represent but this is, perhaps of the party political relationship rather than the Assembly initiative.

As a Liberal Democrat Councillor on Powys County Council I am pleased to have an opportunity to comment on the questions raised by the Commission. I was unhappy at the response made by Powys County Council both in terms of its content and the manner in which it was produced, essentially by a small group of Board members and then put to the Council in the day of its Budget debate when there was insufficient time for full consideration.

I attach a question which I would like to raise on Thursday.

My comments, which follow the pattern of the papers which you have sent, are as follows:

Generally I feel that the Assembly is working for the benefit of the people of Rhayader, Cwmdeuddwr and the Elan Valley, the division which I represent, as well as the people of Powys, subject to limitations which will emerge in my further responses. Health and Education are close to people’s hearts and I can see that the Assembly has made an effort to provide additional funding for these areas although due to the squeeze put on state education and health provision particularly under Conservative Governments it is a large task to turn things round. I can see that within the limits imposed by the devolution legislation innovative ideas such as the reconstruction of the health service in Wales and in the easing of teacher’s work lives and the baccalaureate experiments there is a real focus on people’s needs for the future.

I do not believe that the Act provides the Assembly with sufficient powers. It is far too detailed and restrictive. There needs to be a widening of powers to include primary legislation and tax raising powers.

I would hope that the Assembly would not have to become more like the Parliamentary model with its yah boo politics and confrontational type chamber layout. It is a shame that some politicians in the Assembly behave as if they were at Westminster. We want a government which looks and behaves as if it is really working together for the benefit of all people in Wales.

I am not sure that the Assembly has been greatly effective in influencing UK Government policy which is more due to the nature of the current regime at Westminster than the ability displayed at the Assembly. The Foot & Mouth disease crisis is a prime example of this in that there was clearly a lack of knowledge on farming matters being displayed in Westminster and an equal lack of willingness to listen to voices in the WAG as to how rural areas should be treated.

I think that the Assembly has been hampered by the straitjacket placed on it by the devolution Act.

My impression is that there is not much in the way of liaison between AM, MP and Peer except within the party structures. This has certainly been of great advantage within the Liberal Democrat Party. A good illustration of this is to look at the EDM’s signed by Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnor, many of which are very much in tune with WAG thinking.

The advantages would be that we could have laws which would be much more suited to the people of Wales. We tend to be more egalitarian in outlook, closer, perhaps, to the French ideal of equality. There is definitely more emphasis on health, welfare of the elderly and state education in Wales which stems partially from the fact that we are a relatively poor part of the UK with a population more dependent on state supplied services.

A disadvantage could be that too much emphasis would be placed on urban Wales with the Assembly being in Cardiff. Having said that there is clearly much more interest in Cardiff in Welsh affairs than in Westminster.

This would depend on the extent of the primary law making powers. If defence, social security matters etc are still to be dictated by Westminster we would still need to have strong representation by Welsh MPs and by the Secretary of State.

We would gain much from having more authority in Wales. Again, the F & M crisis is an example of a major situation in which the civil servants and politicians in Whitehall had little understanding of the specific needs of, in particular, upland Wales.

The current costs could be looked at and means found of transferring these to Wales. There is a danger in retaining the cost basis in London of the Welsh Office while creating further costs in the WAG.

Cost savings should arise by doing away with the current split functions.

Electoral Arrangements

1. I think that there should be a larger number of members to spread the workload. Powys County Council has 73 members and it covers only a quarter of the area of Wales and a pretty sparsely populated area at that.
2. The AM’s I meet seem to be under a lot of pressure
3. Up to 80.
4. The ability for AM’s to get to know one another better which, when used constructively, can be for the benefit of Wales. I think this question is rather slanted to the status quo. The advantages of a large number are better representation and the ability to spread the workload.

The present system seems to be reasonably successful but it is ironic that it gives such good representation to a party that did not want the Assembly in the first place. Whilst, as a Liberal Democrat I feel disappointed that the party that has fought for proportional representation for so long does not have wider representation at the Assembly I do have to accept, as a democrat, that the results do seem to give a fairer representation of public opinion in Wales than would a first past the post system. Whatever I may feel about the Conservatives it really would not be a fair reflection of their support in Wales for them to have only one seat in the Assembly. The challenge for other parties is to persuade the electorate that their policies are really the best ones to vote for.

I welcome the fact that it is more difficult for one party to dominate and that there is a higher potential for coalition government which must of necessity widen government representation.

I do think that the regions are too large e.g. Mid and West Wales but an increase in the numbers of AMS would assist in creating smaller regions.

b) I feel uneasy about too much imposition of characteristics of candidates. I believe that the parties are aware of their responsibility to look to gender and ethnic balance. This is certainly written into the selection rules of my own party. The difficulty is in getting women and people from ethnic minorities to put forward their names to be prospective candidates.

I believe that it is very important to keep these as the same for parliamentary and assembly elections. People are confused enough as it is which might be a reason for the seemingly large number of spoiled ballot papers in the recent WAG elections.

Construction of larger Assembly

I think that the present system needs to be tried for a number of elections before being reviewed.