, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Just in terms of the ministerial code, you generally are directly involved, I think, in investigations and, indeed, in the case of Dawn Bowden, your report was published. Did you provide any advice to the First Minister in relation to a breach of the code by…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Yes. So, the UK Government manual has some extensive information on whistleblowing. Well, it refers, actually—I apologise. The section on leak inquiries does reference the section of the civil service directory that covers whistleblowing, which, among other…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
It's a complex area, I think we can agree on that, but we'd be very grateful to receive that further advice from you, and some clarity, in this decidedly grey area. Could I just ask, you chair the whistleblowing panel?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
So, it would be legitimate under some circumstances for public resources, the use of a civil servant in most cases, the head of security, to investigate the sharing of information that was not in a Government context, so a minute of the Labour Party group…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Right, okay. So, an unauthorised disclosure would consist of either the disclosure of the actual document itself, and then it's fairly clear, isn't it, or disclosing the information that's contained within the document, presumably in another format. I know…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
If I build on Mike Hedges's set of questions, really, which I think is about understanding the nature of information and whether confidentiality applies to it—. Government documents—and I had some experience of this during the co-operation agreement—are…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
So, Mr Richards, you are the director of propriety and ethics of the Welsh Government. Forgive me in my simplicity here, but I would have expected the director of propriety and ethics at least to have knowledge of this matter. Are you saying that the only…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
I don't think that the issue of sensitivity—. I don't understand the issue of sensitivity. It's certainly within the remit of this committee to ask questions in relation to leak inquiries—we've already established that. A predecessor committee had extensive…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
The established procedures are set out in some greater detail in the documents referenced in the UK Cabinet manual. What are the established procedures in the case of the Welsh Government in terms of unauthorised disclosures or leaks of information, and where…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
But the First Minister, in referencing it, presumably there is—
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Let's delve a little bit deeper into the similarities and differences between the Cabinet manual and the Cabinet handbook, and also the relationship of the handbook to other processes, procedures and policies, and look at one particular area, which is covered…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Thank you for that. So, we have a more limited document, which is not published but internal. Then, there are other sets of guidance documents or policies in relation to specific areas outside of the handbook, presumably because you don't have the compendium…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
You said that you—and, presumably, the other senior civil servants—use the UK Cabinet manual, you refer to it a lot. Would it be correct to say that the Welsh Cabinet handbook reflects many of the provisions of the UK Cabinet manual? Or, if not, are there…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
One of the purposes of the UK Government's Cabinet manual was to increase transparency by, and I quote, 'shedding light on the inner workings of Government'. Would you accept, given what you have just said in terms of the Cabinet handbook, that we have less…
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Would it be possible for this committee, given the usual assurances in our dealing with confidential information, as we often do, to see a copy of that Cabinet handbook?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Why is that an internal document only?
, Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Session on the Cabinet Manual and Access Talks
Thank you very much, Chair. Bore da. If I understand you correctly, then, there isn't a Welsh Cabinet manual.
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport
Community transport organisations in my constituency have been providing an excellent service to those communities that could be underserved by major and traditional bus operators. Dolen Teifi, for example, serves many in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport
4. What support is the Welsh Government offering to community transport organisations? OQ61151
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
I'd just point out to the Counsel General that 18 June will be the fourth formal opportunity for the Senedd to be discussing this proposal. This is what Parliaments do—they amend Government Bills, and probably we should do it more often. Does he not accept…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
In your comments last week at committee stage, you said that the Government had not yet produced a comprehensive, deep-delve—I think that was your phrase, Counsel General—legal analysis of the proposal. We have discussed it on many occasions now, but that…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
Diolch, Llywydd. Counsel General, you and I have had the opportunity on more than one occasion now to discuss the proposal to introduce a prohibition against deliberate deception by current and prospective Members of the Senedd. Now, that proposal is…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Group 18: Review of Act (Amendments 94, 95)
I move.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Group 18: Review of Act (Amendments 94, 95)
Not moved.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Group 18: Review of Act (Amendments 94, 95)
I move.
