Assembly powers
1. The relationship between Cardiff and certain Whitehall
departments needs to be clarified and the division of
roles redefined. WOAG agencies and their sister or parent
organisations in England relate in particular to the
Department for International Affairs (DfID). There is
currently no concordat between WAG and DfID, yet there
is one between it and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
This has led to occasional lack of co-ordination. For
example, DfID held a number of Policy Fora meetings
throughout the UK during 2002. A much larger Welsh Assembly
Government sponsored conference on a related topic took
place, in the same venue in Cardiff, just one week before
the DfID Forum there. Neither WAG nor DfID was aware
of the other's event until it was too late to alter
their plans. With regard to funding streams from DfID,
these have been clarified to an extent in the realm
of development education and awareness in Wales, but
some confusion still remains on overall financing responsibilities
in this field.
WOAG therefore believes that a more formalised arrangement,
through a concordat, should be drawn up with DfID; and
that DfID should commit a dedicated staff member to
manage its relationship and funding arrangements with
WAG and with the international non-governmental organisation
(NGO) sector in Wales.
2. WOAG agencies believe that Wales has a long history
of commitment to international issues - a commitment
that is somewhat distinct from that of the other nations
of the UK. Consequently, it is our belief that the Assembly
should consider a role for itself in the field of international
development. Our sister organisation in Scotland, NIDOS,
is currently working with the Scottish Executive on
creating a (small) Scottish overseas aid budget. This
may be thought to be premature for Wales. Yet WAG is
nonetheless sponsoring a regional government from a
developing country to attend the Network of Regional
Governments for Sustainable Development Conference in
San Sebastian, the Basque country/Euskadi in March 2003.
Resources have also previously been allocated in this
field - for example to events at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in 2002.
WOAG contends that a separate aid budget, however limited
at this stage, would enable Welsh priorities to be met
and for WAG to take initiatives on its own. This budget
could be held within the External Affairs Unit of the
Economic Development Department, for example, which
has already incorporated European and global responsibilities
within WAG over the past 4 years.
3. It is the issue of asylum that for many WOAG members,
and our supporters, has most clearly demonstrated the
need for greater powers for the Assembly. The failings
of the Home Office's National Asylum Support Service
(NASS) in dispersing asylum seekers to Wales have been
obvious to all parties involved. The Assembly has responded
by setting up the Welsh Refugee Integration Forum, with
inter-agency backing, to provide support to those granted
refugee status. The Forum, however, is operating in
a context whereby up until the point that refugee status
is granted, nearly all the decisions are taken by NASS.
Even ascertaining from NASS the numbers of asylum seekers
being sent to Wales, and therefore the numbers likely
to gain refugee status, is difficult for the Assembly,
making forward planning all but impossible.
WOAG therefore believes the Assembly should extend
its powers in the field of asylum seekers in Wales,
to ensure a more co-ordinated and, ultimately, more
humane approach to the issue here. This would have implications
in terms of relations and funding allocations with the
Home Office.
4. The ability of the Welsh Assembly Government to
influence and provide input into European Commission
(EC) affairs has been strengthened over the past 4 years,
but should be increased further. The arrangement whereby
Wales is represented within UK delegations at ministerial
level allows for a distinctly Welsh view to be articulated
on occasion. This is also the case within the UK Permanent
Representation to the EU, through the WAG EU Office
in Brussels. WOAG agencies in their turn have had success
on EU-related matters in Wales -promoting the need for
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, for instance,
in the interests of the world's poor.
WOAG believes that the opportunity for views to be
articulated directly to the EC's formal structures,
on matters that impinge on the European Union's external
policies as well as on its internal ones, should be
taken by WAG representatives whenever possible. The
CAP and asylum/ immigration issues are two such matters
with international ramifications that we feel can legitimately
have input through the National Assembly to help formulate
the UK's stance.
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