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Structure and working arrangements of
the National Assembly
- If the Assembly were to acquire greater law making
powers – is it inevitable that it would need
to be reconstituted on the Parliamentary model?
- If so what organisational changes would be needed
to support this model and what would be the gains
and losses from making this change?
Effectiveness of Assembly Committees
34. Since the formal establishment of a
Welsh Assembly Government taking over the executive
function of the constituted Assembly there has been
greater clarity in Assembly executive decision making.
The arrangement is much more focused around traditional
models of governance, and ensures that responsibility
is clearer and the roles of the executive and legislature
are defined.
35. The consequent impact on the role of
Assembly committees is more difficult to gauge. The
similarities with the Executive scrutiny split in local
government are marked in this regard. Thus while some
committees subject the Executive to forensic examination
of policy, undertake policy development and review and
widen the public debate on key issues; others are mere
"talking shops" often with little to do than agree or
move business. It is for the Assembly itself to determine
the effectiveness of its committee structure, but we
would make the following general observations.
36. Some of the evidence provided to the
Association by our members suggest that some Committees
have not grasped the "big" issues, provided effective
scrutiny or exposed legislation proposals to the additional
rigour originally intended. It could be assumed that
this was because of their new role and lack of support,
and one would hope to see an improvement in scrutiny
in the new term (dependant on how often the committees
sit).
37. Alternatively, the potential contribution
of the Committees to policy development cannot be underestimated.
The policy reviews which are undertaken are thorough
and provide Ministers with viable options for policy
development. The Committees are inclusive in their approach
and invite many organisations, including local government,
to give evidence.
Evidence Giving
38. Concerns have been raised about the
role the Committees have in calling organisations to
give evidence. It is not mandatory for local government
to attend when invited, although we make all possible
attempts to do so in the spirit of partnership working.
Committees must understand however that elected local
government cannot be summoned to provide evidence and
it will not always be possible for representation from
councils to be forthcoming. For local government meeting
both the demands of their own legitimate role, particularly
the additional demands following the Local Government
Act 2000, and Assembly scrutiny is not always possible.
39. The WLGA would however regard it appropriate
that local government members or other relevant experts
were co-opted onto relevant committees to contribute
to debates, for example, the WLGA’s education or
social affairs spokespersons could be invited to participate
during specific and relevant sessions. This would not
only be appropriate, as many such issues fall within
local government’s delivery remit, but could allow
for a more informed and balanced debate.
40. The WLGA is concerned at the role and
activities of subject committees in that they can sometimes
focus on their policy development or ‘policy review’
role at the expense of effective scrutiny. The WLGA
would argue that while they play a valuable policy development
role, the primary role of the committees should be to
focus on scrutiny. While it is true that scrutiny is
taking time to develop in some authorities, the WLGA
recommends that it would be useful for comparative research
to be undertaken across devolved and local government
on good practice in scrutiny models which makes the
process more robust.
Joined Up Working?
41. From the outset the National Assembly
and the Welsh Assembly Government have been active in
promoting crosscutting policy areas such as sustainable
development, equalities and social inclusion. This has
resulted in a much greater focus on these areas when
creating policies around health, transport and education
for example. In terms of raising the profile the Assembly
is to be congratulated for attempting to ensure that
policies join-up at the strategic and the operational
level.
42. Where these attempts at crosscutting
working are hampered it is often due to the internal
working arrangements of the Assembly. Local government
is continually being exhorted to work in partnership
with others to deliver, indeed it is a statutory duty.
In broad terms this would be facilitated by the recognition
within the Assembly that it must also improve its own
corporate governance arrangements to ensure greater
consistency across Assembly divisions. This is particularly
the case on Assembly policy development.
43. There is a range of examples to illustrate
the point. The recent substance misuse guidance is aimed
at community safety partnerships on which the local
health boards are expected to play a major role. Unfortunately
the Assembly division responsible for local health boards,
have not issued guidance to the local health boards
on their role in the substance misuse debate. Another
example would be the guidance on Community Strategies
which enforced a duty on local authorities to establish
a partnership yet it is only recently through Assembly
remit letters to ASPBs that those bodies need to be
involved in partnerships and indeed were fully aware
of this concept. The result leads to a mixed response
at the local level of key partnership bodies in local
strategic partnerships. The debate around the emergence
of Health and Wellbeing strategies was a further example
in this area where Assembly divisions struggled to come
to terms with each other’s respective responsibilities.
44. The Assembly needs to ensure that its
internal communication mechanisms are improved in order
for policy to be delivered on the ground. All public
bodies can suffer from "silo" mentality and there is
evidence that the Assembly has yet to fully come to
terms with these issues. The cultural impact is hindering
the Assembly from delivering to its full potential and
is a source of frustration for those on the ground it
is asking to work in partnership.
Regional Committees
45. The National Assembly also operates
within a regional structure with four regional committees
meeting approximately every two months. These committees
provide the public with the opportunity to raise issues
with Assembly members and for the Members to be able
to scrutinise how Assembly policy is being delivered
at the local level.
46. The regional dimension to such committees
shows diversity in their operation. A very brief analysis
of previous agendas shows that the majority of the Committees
prefer to focus a session around one particular item.
One would question whether this would encourage the
public to participate or even attend such a meeting.
From this brief analysis it was also noticeable that
the Committees quite often relied on local government
officers to provide them with reports and advice.
47. The WLGA has noted that attendance
of these sessions has been variable. This includes the
presence of AMs with recent evidence which suggesting
that 29 of the 60 AMs missed at least half of the regional
meetings during 20022. This begs the question whether this represents
real consultation with the Welsh public.
48. Our view on the Regional Committees
is predicated on the evidence provided by our members.
In some parts of Wales these bodies appear to have real
salience while in others we are yet to be convinced
that the current approach adds value. The proposal for
the Assembly’s Subject Committees to take place
outside of Cardiff has been mooted recently, a move
the Association would warmly welcome. If this was to
occur the role of the regional Committees would be need
to be clarified. The Association feels that these Committees
should therefore be subject to a review on the grounds
of effectiveness, commitment of members and their relationship
to Subject Committees.
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