Data and methods
The data comes from the sources listed on the About page, and the data status page shows how up to date it is.
Speeches
A speech is any contribution the Record of Proceedings lists as a speech or a question, in Plenary or in a committee meeting. It can be a long speech or a short intervention. Agenda headings, procedural notes and the announcement of votes are not speeches.
When the Llywydd or a Deputy Presiding Officer speaks from the chair, which the Record shows by giving them that role, the contribution stays in the transcript but is left out of their figures. When they speak as an ordinary Member, it counts.
Contributions from people who are not Members, such as witnesses and officials at committee meetings, appear in transcripts but are not counted for anyone.
Words spoken
Words are counted in the language the contribution was spoken in, using the Senedd's own text. A contribution made in Welsh is counted from the Welsh, not from the English translation, so a Member's total doesn't depend on how long a translation is.
A word is any unbroken run of letters or numbers. Apostrophes and hyphens inside a word don't split it, so ‘don’t’ and ‘well-being’ are one word each. Only speeches count, as defined above.
Share in Welsh
The share in Welsh is the number of words a Member spoke in Welsh divided by all the words they spoke. The Record marks each contribution as spoken in Welsh or in English, and we use that mark. For a whole Senedd, the share is worked out the same way across everything said in its meetings, including by witnesses at committees, leaving out the chair.
Translations
The Record publishes each contribution in the language it was spoken, with the Senedd's own translation into the other language. On the English pages, a contribution made in Welsh is shown in the Senedd's English translation and marked as translated. On the Welsh pages, a contribution made in English is shown in the Senedd's Welsh translation.
Where the Record has no translation, the contribution is shown as it was spoken. Most contributions made in English at committee meetings are not translated into Welsh, and recent Plenary meetings can be waiting for their translation. The data status page shows how many contributions this affects.
Video
Each speech links to the moment it was made on Senedd TV, using the timing the Record publishes for it. The printed text of tabled oral questions has no timing of its own, so it has no video link.
Votes
Votes are the divisions recorded in the Record of Proceedings. For each vote, the Record lists every Member and how they voted: for, against, abstain or did not vote. Whether a vote was agreed or rejected is taken from the result the Record publishes.
Votes cast counts the votes in which a Member voted for, against or abstained; abstaining counts as casting a vote. Votes held while sitting counts every vote on which the Record lists the Member, which is every vote held while they were a Member, including the ones where they did not vote.
Voting against the party
A party's position on a vote is the option (for, against or abstain) that more of its voting Members chose than any other. If two options tie, the party was split and has no position on that vote.
A Member voted against their party when they voted for and the party's position was against, or the other way round. Abstaining never counts as voting against the party, and neither does voting when the party's position was to abstain. Independent Members are not counted, and a party needs at least two of its Members voting for or against before anyone can vote against it.
Each vote counts under the party the Member belonged to on the day, so a Member who changed party is compared with their old party before the change and their new party after it.
Party cohesion
Cohesion is the share of a party's voting Members who voted in line with the party's position on a vote. If nine in ten of them voted the same way, the party's cohesion on that vote was 90%. Members who did not vote are left out.
The government's position
The Senedd doesn't record a government position on each vote, so it is inferred from how the governing party's Members voted, in the same way as any party's position.
| Senedd | Governing party |
|---|---|
| Sixth Senedd | Welsh Labour |
| Seventh Senedd | Plaid Cymru |
In the Sixth Senedd, the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru (December 2021 to May 2024) was not a coalition, so only Welsh Labour counts as the government.
The government was defeated when its position was for and the vote was rejected, or its position was against and the vote was agreed. Votes on which the governing party abstained or was split don't count either way.
On a Member's page, voted with the government counts the votes in which the Member voted the same way as the government's position, out of the votes in which they voted and the governing party had a position, including a position to abstain.
Briefs and the Programme for Government
Briefs follow the Welsh Government's Programme for Government 2026 to 2030. Each brief belongs to one of the Programme's seven well-being objectives and follows a set of its commitments. Speeches, agenda items, votes, written questions and petitions are tagged with briefs by rules, not by reading them: each brief and each of its themes has a list of words and phrases, and a record is tagged when its English text uses one of them. Speeches made in Welsh are tagged from the Senedd's English translation, in the same way.
- Words and phrases match whole words only, ignoring capital letters, so ‘cancer’ does not match ‘cancellation’.
- Short acronyms such as ALN and NRW must match exactly, in capitals.
- Names of ministerial posts and committees are ignored, so ‘the Deputy Minister for Social Care, Mental Health and Women's Health’ is not a mention of mental health, and ‘the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee’ is not a mention of housing.
- Some phrases are excluded from a brief: a mention of care homes does not count towards housing.
- The agenda item a speech was made under, and the heading of the question it belongs to, count as context. A speech of 30 words or more under a matching agenda item or question is tagged with the matching theme even if it doesn't use the words itself.
- A ministerial statement, or a committee session with ministers, whose title matches no brief is tagged with the briefs of the ministers' portfolios.
- A brief includes everything tagged with any of its themes. A speech can be tagged with several briefs.
- Votes are tagged from their title and the agenda item they were held under.
Because this is keyword matching, it can miss speeches that discuss an issue in other words, and it can tag a speech that mentions an issue only in passing. Brief figures show roughly how much attention an issue gets. They are not an exact count.
Commitments are tracked in the same way, with phrases that name the plan, body or scheme each one promises, such as Unnos or the Economic and Fiscal Commission. Each mention shows the phrase that matched. A mention says that a commitment came up, not what progress has been made. Commitments too general to match reliably are marked as not tracked.
The briefs
There are 21 briefs with 111 themes between them.
- The NHS
- Waiting lists and planned care
- GPs, dentists and pharmacies
- Cancer and diagnostics
- Emergency care and ambulances
- Maternity and women's health
- NHS staff
Words and phrases
- Mental health
- Neurodevelopmental assessments
- Counselling and talking therapies
- Children and young people
- Crisis care and suicide prevention
Words and phrases
- Social care
- Care workers
- Leaving hospital and joined-up care
- Care homes and home care
- Unpaid carers
- Children's services and safeguarding
Words and phrases
- Public health
- Smoking, vaping, diet and exercise
- Alcohol, drugs and gambling
- Vaccination and infectious disease
- Health inequalities
Words and phrases
- Childcare
Words and phrases
- Housing
- Social housing
- Homelessness
- Renting
- Second homes and holiday lets
- Buying a home
- Building safety
- Warmer, greener homes
- Planning
Words and phrases
- The economy and jobs
- Steel and manufacturing
- Business support and investment
- High streets and business rates
- Jobs, pay and productivity
- Co-operatives and community ownership
- Tourism and the visitor levy
- Broadband and digital
Words and phrases
- Universities, colleges and skills
Words and phrases
- Transport
- Buses
- Rail
- Roads, bridges and 20mph
- Walking and cycling
- School transport
- Electric vehicles
- Cardiff Airport and the ports
Words and phrases
- Farming and rural Wales
- Farm support and the Sustainable Farming Scheme
- Bovine TB and animal welfare
- Farming and water quality
- Fishing and the marine
- Rural communities
Words and phrases
- Energy
Words and phrases
- Schools
- Standards and attainment
- The curriculum
- Exams and qualifications
- Additional learning needs
- Attendance and behaviour
- Teachers
- School funding and buildings
- Welsh-medium schools
Words and phrases
- Poverty and the cost of living
- Child poverty
- Free school meals
- The Cynnal child payment
- Benefits
- Food banks and hardship
- Fuel poverty and energy bills
Words and phrases
- Equality and human rights
- Violence against women and girls
- LGBTQ+ equality
- Race equality
- Disabled people's rights
- Gender equality
- Refugees and asylum seekers
- Veterans and the armed forces
- Human rights
Words and phrases
- The constitution
- Independence
- More powers for Wales
- The National Commission
- Relations with the UK Government
- Senedd elections and reform
Words and phrases
- Public finances
Words and phrases
- Policing and justice
Words and phrases
- Culture, sport and Wales in the world
- Arts, museums and libraries
- Heritage
- Sport and major events
- Broadcasting and the media
- Europe and international relations
Words and phrases
- Councils and public services
Words and phrases
- Climate and nature
- Net zero and climate targets
- Rivers and sewage
- Nature and biodiversity
- Waste, recycling and pollution
- Flooding, drought and extreme weather
- Coal tips and contaminated land
- Natural Resources Wales
Words and phrases
- The Welsh language
- Cymraeg 2050 and learning Welsh
- Welsh-medium education
- Welsh-speaking communities
- Welsh language standards and services
Words and phrases
Statistics on briefs
Briefs show statistics beside the Senedd's record, so the debate can be read against where things stand. Most are official statistics, and each chart gives the publisher's designation. Each figure is taken unchanged from its publisher: the Welsh Government, through StatsWales, or the Office for National Statistics. We fetch the figures every day and store each one with the period it covers and the publisher's own notes on it, such as provisional, revised or estimated. Every figure links to the dataset it came from, with the publisher's statistical designation and the date of the next update when one is announced.
We don't estimate, adjust or combine figures. The only changes are units for display: emissions are shown in million tonnes rather than thousand tonnes, electricity in terawatt hours rather than megawatt hours, and ambulance response times in minutes and seconds. Percentages and amounts are rounded to the decimal places shown.
Beside the latest figure we show the same period a year earlier and, for figures published monthly or quarterly, the last period before the 2026 Senedd election. Where the publisher gives the UK figure in the same table, it is shown for comparison. Charts start at the 2016 Senedd election, or where the figures begin, and mark each election since. Counts and amounts are drawn from zero; rates and indexes are drawn around their range, with the axis labelled.
A line is broken where figures are missing or where the publisher marks a break in the series. Where a measure changed or a figure needs care, the note under the chart says so. Accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation and found to meet the Code of Practice for Statistics. Official statistics in development are new or being developed, so their methods may change. Management information is data collected to run a service, published without being produced as official statistics.
Senedd Research on briefs
Briefs list articles by Senedd Research, the Senedd's impartial research service, with each article's own title, publication date and summary, linking to the article on Senedd Research's site in the reader's language. Every day we read Senedd Research's latest articles, its topic pages and its reading lists for the Seventh Senedd, and fetch each new article in English and Welsh.
An article appears on a brief when Senedd Research files it under the topic that matches the brief, such as Housing for the housing brief, or when its title uses one of the brief's words and phrases. Its summary counts too, but only for briefs related to the topics Senedd Research has filed it under, so that a passing mention doesn't put an article on an unrelated brief. Themes are matched in the same way.
The current Senedd's briefs show the five newest articles, whenever they were published. An earlier Senedd's briefs show only articles published during that Senedd. Titles and summaries are Senedd Research's own, reused under the Senedd Commission's terms for its material.
Committee attendance
Attendance comes from the meeting records in the Senedd's ModernGov system, which list each committee member as present, sent apologies, absent, or attending as a substitute. A Member's attendance is the share of their committee meetings at which they were present or attended as a substitute, out of all the meetings at which they were listed in one of those four ways.
People listed as in attendance, such as Ministers giving evidence, are not counted. Meetings where attendance hasn't been recorded yet are left out.
The Senedd doesn't record attendance at Plenary, so there is no Plenary attendance figure.
Questions
Oral questions asked counts the tabled questions printed under a Member's name in Plenary question sessions. The supplementary questions that follow them count as speeches.
Written questions are collected from the Record's daily lists of questions due for answer, and from each question's own page, where the answer appears once it is published. Each question counts towards the Senedd in which it was tabled.
Terms
Figures are given for each Senedd. A meeting, vote, written question or allowance claim belongs to a Senedd by its date: anything from an election day onwards belongs to the Senedd elected that day.
| Senedd | Elected | First met | Last day | Members |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sixth Senedd | 6 May 2021 | 12 May 2021 | 6 May 2026 | 60 |
| Seventh Senedd | 7 May 2026 | 12 May 2026 | Still sitting | 96 |
The Sixth Senedd's Members, seats, changes of party and posts come from our own researched list, because the Senedd's live feeds describe current Members only.