, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Scrutiny of Accounts - Welsh Government 2024-25: evidence session with Dr Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary - Welsh Government
Yes, thank you, Chair. I have three questions that are relevant to this issue in terms of the senior civil service. First of all, last month, the Westminster Government made a statement about a new evaluation framework for the senior civil service that will…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Thank you very much.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
I'm grateful for that. Just finally from me, I want to ask about the relationship with Welsh Tribunals. We've heard about one judiciary in Wales, but we have two sets of judiciary in Wales, one might say. But you appoint, do you not, the president of the…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Do we have time, Chair? Just a couple of questions to conclude from me. In terms of the Welsh language, just a specific question: the Welsh Language Commissioner has recently raised concerns about a consultation by the committee for regulations and…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Thank you.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Alun Davies, I'm sure, will come back to this question relating to the Welsh language in the system, but, finally from me, could you tell us broadly how the proposed criminal court reforms and sentencing changes by the UK Government could influence the…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Just in terms of recruitment, are there challenges that are specific to Wales in terms of recruitment of judges—full-time judges and judges who are paid through fees—and to what extent is that movement towards—I'm not sure what the term is; I'm not sure if I…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Just to stay on that point for a moment then, how has that decision across England and Wales in terms of that maximum number of sitting days affected Wales? Have there been cases where the courts in Wales have failed to sit due to Wales, to all intents and…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Can we turn, therefore, to how we improve the situation? If you only had one of these in Wales next year—more sitting days, more judicial appointments or more administrative staff—which would you choose, and which do you think would be most effective?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
But is there still a broader connection between that backlog and the number of ineffective trials?
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Do we have any figures for the victims, for example, in terms of the effect of that backlog on the tendency to pull out of criminal cases? Also, you referred earlier to the record in Wales and how it is better in terms of ineffective cases—those that fail due…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Although—according to the statistics that you've shared with us—the situation in some aspects is relatively better in Wales, would you accept that that backlog in general has been increasing in Wales, as it has been increasing in England also, and so it's…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
I know that you may not want to go into policy areas, but, of course, those of us in favour of devolution would use this as further evidence of the potential that devolving this would represent. Just in terms of drilling down into the statistics some more…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
It's very encouraging to hear about those aspects in which Wales is doing so well. Do you attribute those more positive outcomes, compared to England, to the characteristics that you mentioned earlier on—that, in Wales, due to its nature, information flows…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with the Lady Chief Justice
Good afternoon. We're all aware, of course, of the general backlog that is typical of the criminal cases across England and Wales at present, but to what extent is the situation in Wales better, worse, or is it broadly similar to what we see across England…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Introduction, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest
Chair, I'd just like to point out my declaration of interest, which is that my partner is a member of the judiciary.
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
Okay. Thank you very much.
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
And finally from me, Chair, you touched upon the question already of the handover from one auditor general to the next, but as a body as well Audit Wales has a variety of strategies and programmes that are already in place. So, how are you going to…
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
Audit Wales is a larger organisation, I think, than the authority that you lead at present—about 300 staff members. What challenges does this change in scale and complexity create for you, and how would you manage those challenges?
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
Thank you very much. Given that the Auditor General for Wales is the chief executive of Audit Wales, and works within established governance structures, what is your plan to nurture an effective working relationship with the chair and board of Audit Wales…
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
Is failure within the confines of a robust evaluation framework an inalienable part of the innovation process and the process of learning?
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
Thank you very much. Auditing is vital in safeguarding public money and the public's trust. But Wales also need more experimentation and pilot schemes to improve services and to increase productivity. As auditor general, how would you ensure that auditing…
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
The timeliness has been deteriorating—I think I'm right to say that—over recent years. To what extent can you give the committee assurance on the basis of what you've just said? Do you think that it will be possible to maintain more robust timeliness…
, Finance Committee
Pre-nomination Hearing - Auditor General for Wales
Thank you, Chair, and good morning to you. Could I just stay with this question of auditing experience within the public sector? In a speech recently on the accounts of local authorities, the current Auditor General for Wales noted that only 56 per cent of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery
Counsel General, would you accept—and this does go to your responsibilities—given everything that I've shared, that the legislative handling of this highly sensitive, complex matter, affecting children and young people, and a particularly vulnerable group…
