, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
—but I think that the additional Presiding Officer also is caught now in the discussion.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, no. I'm loath to correct you, Darren—
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
And the Llywydd's Committee.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
As the Llywydd, I am not a member of that committee at this point. Siwan, do you want to outline some of the issues around pre-appointment hearings?
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I probably don't have a view on whether they should be single term or not as appointments. It's good to refresh on a frequent basis.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I would make the point that this commission is different to any other commission, in that it will have far more interest to political parties and potential politicians—direct interest in how constituencies are configured. So, the principle of retaining…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I don't think it's in the legislation, is it?
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, yes, of course. I said it's a reduced possibility; the possibility doesn't disappear.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
No, I agree with that point of principle. What I would also say is that one thing that you should bear in mind is that the desire for recall for individual Members may be lessened in a Senedd of four years as compared to five years, particularly the closer…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
The answer to that is 'I don't know,' because by-elections are more difficult in the context of a list system, so by-elections and triggering by-elections, which is the recall system used in the House of Commons, appears to be quite a straightforward…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I think that's a good point to reflect on, because we certainly wouldn't want to be in a system where, if this system was retained currently, it would be possible to recall a constituency Member but not possible to recall a Member on a regional list. So, yes…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, I'm not an expert in working out whether there are mechanisms that are easily implemented to have recalls in a list system. I think, if I'm right, the Business Committee gave some thought to this and decided not to recommend anything for this particular…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Yes, it could.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
If a constituency has nobody that can represent it, that is an issue of some concern to those people who are electors in that constituency and also probably to the workings of the Senedd at any point, because it will change possibly quite dramatically the…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
We know that errors can happen. A computer can say 'no'. And the right of appeal is important for anybody who could end up in that situation rightly or wrongly. I think it's a matter that does need a bit more thinking by both the Welsh Government and others…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
Well, not 'could have been replaced', but 'would have been replaced' without there having been an appeal by an individual heard in time for somebody who is appealing the fact that they were no longer on an electoral register in Wales and that they were…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
There is a greater likelihood, possibly, with the four-year term that there may be some coincidence of appointments that is avoided by five-year terms. I probably haven't explained that very clearly.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
A possible consequence could be on the appointments by the Senedd that currently, because of our five-year term compared to four or eight-year terms of, say—. Is it the auditor general?
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
That's what's in the RIA, yes.
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
We weren't involved in the decision making around this or consulted in any kind of formal way. We were informed that it was going to be part of the Bill and we reflected that in our final costings as well. The profiling of the costings, of course, differs…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I certainly wouldn't want to see that in the Bill. Whether a Business Committee of this Senedd wants to prepare the way for committees that will be the subject of discussion in the next Senedd is a matter that could be considered, although as a point of…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
And then you have a further six months just to do the work, which as I've said, is quite considerable on this, if it's to be done properly. So I have a degree of concern about putting a guillotine on that committee's work in terms of it has to report by May…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
If the next Senedd was to establish such a committee and decide that the Llywydd's motion to establish a committee should be undertaken, and that the review of the implementation was looked at by a committee, then the implementation of this new legislation is…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I think the issue not to overly fix on here is the numbers of committees, but to think about how those committees in another Senedd and in this post-2026 Senedd could work. We know at the moment that the ability of committees to meet during a working week is…
, Reform Bill Committee
Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill: Evidence session with the Llywydd and the Senedd Commission
I don't have a Llywydd view on it to share with you this morning, but I was interested in both the written and the oral evidence given by a previous set of witnesses you had where there was specific mention of the fact that it would be more appropriate for…
