Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Aled Elwyn Jones 

Items
No. Item

1.

Introductions, apologies and substitutions

2.

Minutes of the previous meeting

Minutes:

The minutes for the meeting were agreed by the Committee for publication.

3.

Organisation of Business

3.1

This Week's Business

Minutes:

Tuesday

 

  • The Government will be adding a motion to Suspend Standing Orders to today’s Plenary agenda as the last item of business, which if agreed will enable a 60 minute debate on ‘The Prospects for a Brexit Deal Following the House of Commons Vote’ at tomorrow’s Plenary. If Members vote in favour of scheduling the debate, it is proposed that it will be tabled as early as possible tomorrow morning once the outcome of the House of Commons vote is known, and that the Llywydd will seek to allow a window of at least 2 hours for Members to table amendments. It would also be added as the last item of business tomorrow to ensure the maximum window for Members to consider the motion and table amendments.

 

  • Voting Time will take place after the last item of business. 

 

Wednesday

 

  • Voting Time will take place before the short debate.

 

  • If a the motion to suspend Standing Orders to enable a debate on the ‘Prospects for a Brexit Deal Following the House of Commons Vote’ is accepted at today’s Plenary, Plenary tomorrow is unlikely to run past 7.20pm.

 

 

3.2

Three Week Timetable of Government Business

Minutes:

3 Week Timetable of Government Business

 

The Trefnydd circulated revised hard copies which detailed the following changes:

 

Tuesday 5th February 2019

 

·         Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Unscheduled Care Winter Delivery (45 mins) – postponed until 12 February

·         Debate: The Substance Misuse Annual Report (60 mins) – postponed until 12 February

 

Tuesday 12th February 2019

 

·         Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Unscheduled Care Winter Delivery (45 mins) – postponed from 5 February

·         Debate: The Substance Misuse Annual Report (60 mins) – postponed from 5 February

 

 

3.3

Three week timetable of Assembly Business

Minutes:

3 Week Timetable of Assembly Business

 

Business Committee determined the organisation of Assembly business and agreed to schedule the following items of business:

 

Wednesday 20 February 2019 –

·         Debate on the 'Wales’ future relationship with the Committee of the Regions’ report (30 mins)

·         Debate on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report: Everybody’s Business: A Report on Suicide Prevention in Wales (60 mins)

·         Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv)

·         Time allocated to the United Kingdom Independence Party (60 mins)

 

3.4

Member Debates: Selection of Motion for Debate

Minutes:

Member Debate: selection of motion for debate

 

·         Business Managers selected the following motion for debate on 6 February:

NNDM6950

David Rees

 

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

 

1.    Welcomes the investments made by the Welsh Government to support a sustainable future for the steel industry in Wales in recent years.

 

2.    Recognises the challenges facing the Welsh steel industry following the UK's departure from the EU.

 

3.    Calls on the Welsh Government to continue supporting the Welsh steel sector which is a key industry for the Welsh economy.

 

4.    Calls on the UK Government to address the high costs of energy facing the steel sector in the UK in comparison to electricity costs in the EU.

 

Supporters:

 

Jayne Bryant

Suzy Davies

Russell George

John Griffiths

Huw Irranca-Davies

Bethan Sayed

Caroline Jones

Dawn Bowden

Mike Hedges

Vikki Howells

Jack Sargeant

Dawn Bowden

Alun Davies

Mike Hedges

Vikki Howells

 

 

·         Business Managers agreed to schedule the next Members Debate on 20 February and selected the following motion for debate:

NNDM6947

Huw Irranca-Davies

 

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

 

1. Notes that:

 

a) young people in Wales have some of the lowest levels of physical activity in the United Kingdom, contributing to rising levels of obesity and associated health issues such as diabetes 2;

 

b) several communities in Wales suffer from illegally high levels of air pollution, with one community experiencing the worst air quality outside London;

 

c) congestion on the roads is estimated to cost the Welsh economy £2bn every year;

 

d) targets for carbon emissions from transport in Wales have consistently not been met;

 

e) levels of walking and cycling in Wales are in decline, with falling levels of active travel to school being a particular concern; and

 

f) each of these issues could be ameliorated if the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 was effectively implemented.

 

2. Calls on the Welsh Government to refresh its ambition for active travel in Wales by producing a comprehensive active travel strategy including ambitious targets and a detailed plan for long term investment in active travel infrastructure.

 

Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013

 

Supporters:

Dai Lloyd

Russell George

Vikki Howells

Neil McEvoy

Jenny Rathbone

 

4.

National Assembly for Wales – Official Languages Scheme

4.1

Assembly Commission's Annual Report on its Official Languages Scheme

Minutes:

National Assembly for Wales – Official Languages Scheme

 

Assembly Commission's Annual Report on its Official Languages Scheme

 

Business Managers discussed the paper and agreed with the Trefnydd’s proposal that Government and Assembly Officials meet in the first instance to explore how we can improve the statistics and issues noted in the paper.

 

Business Managers raised their concern over other public bodies which submit monolingual English only documents only, and noted that they may wish to explore (i) which, if any, public bodies regularly do so and (ii) the way in which committees commission calls for evidence reflect the duty on public bodies to submit bilingual documents.

 

Business Managers also raised the issue that the Explanatory Memorandums referred to in the letter are not subsequently translated after the relevant tabling or laying deadlines have passed. This should also be considered in discussions with WG officials.

 

 

5.

Standing Orders

5.1

Proposals to amend Standing Orders: SO12 - Questions to the Counsel General and Deputy Minister and Chief Whip

Minutes:

Standing Orders

 

Proposals to amend Standing Orders: SO12 - Questions to the Counsel General and Deputy Minister and Chief Whip

 

Business Managers agreed the proposed procedure for questions to the Counsel General and Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, and agreed in principle to the proposed Standing Order changes. A report will be circulated to Business Managers outside of Committee this afternoon and if agreed, a motion to amend Standing Order 12 will be added to tomorrow’s Plenary agenda, preceded by a motion to suspend Standing Orders in order to allow the motion to be debated.

 

Business Managers agreed with the Trefnydd’s proposal to review the changes in a few months’ time.

 

6.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

Any Other Business

 

Rhun ap Iorwerth stated that Members from his party had raised the allocation of supplementary questions with him. They had concerns over a few recent instances where they were not called to ask supplementary questions in Plenary. The Llywydd explained her approach to calling supplementary questions but noted that fluidity was also crucial, and that which Members were called in which instance is always determined by time pressures and party balance.