Minutes
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Contact: Aled Elwyn Jones
No. | Item |
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Introductions, apologies and substitutions Minutes: The
Deputy Presiding Officer sent her apologies. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting Minutes: The
minutes for the meeting were agreed by the Committee for publication. |
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Organisation of Business |
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This Week's Business Minutes: This
Week’s Business On
the issue of the Welsh Conservatives’ motion for debate on Wednesday on ‘The
Permanent Secretary’s investigation report’, the Leader of the House read out
the following statement: We are
seeking to resolve a constitutional question as to the scope of the power set
out in section 37 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. This provides the Assembly with the power to
compel witnesses and evidence in relation to various matters relevant to the
functions of the Welsh Ministers. Given the different positions adopted between
the Assembly Commission and the Welsh Government, the First Minister has an
obligation to act to clarify the law in this area. The Welsh
Government object to the Conservative Party motion for the following reasons: (a) Firstly, because the motion is outside the
scope of the Assembly’s powers under section 37 and likewise any subsequent
section 38 notice would also be ultra vires.
This is because section 37 extends only to matters relevant to the
exercise of Welsh Minister’s functions, as distinct from functions exercisable
only by the First Minister. The vast
majority of functions relevant to the operation of devolved government in Wales
are exercisable collectively by the First Minister and Welsh Ministers.
However, the leak report was commissioned and undertaken in pursuance of
functions exercisable solely by the First Minister. (b) Secondly, the motion brings into question
the proper conduct of Assembly business.
There is a longstanding practice of non-disclosure of leak investigation
reports across all Governments in the UK, because of the risk of prejudicing
the conduct and confidentiality of future investigations. As explained in the Permanent Secretary’s
letter of 16th March 2018, there is a standard framework for leak
investigations. To provide specific
detail of the framework would risk undermining the effectiveness of future
investigations. There is also a clear
risk that if reports into leak investigations were required to be disclosed to
the Assembly, then in future individuals may not be willing to volunteer
information or co-operate in subsequent investigations. (c) Given current ongoing investigations which
involve sensitive and confidential information, it is vital that we seek
clarity on the scope of this provision at this time. While this
important legal and constitutional question is being resolved it would not be
appropriate for the above motion to proceed.
The
Llywydd said that she had received the letter yesterday evening, is taking
advice, and that she will respond in due course. Business Committee may need to
reconvene at some point. The Llywydd
told Business Managers that she could not share the letter with them because it
was marked as ‘confidential’. Paul
Davies expressed his view that he believed the Conservative motion on “The
Permanent Secretary’s Investigation Report” to be in order, based on the legal
advice the group had received and which he believed to be correct. Tuesday ·
Voting Time will take place after
the last item of business. Wednesday ·
Voting Time will take place
before the Short Debate. |
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Three Week Timetable of Government Business Minutes: Business Committee noted
the 3 Week Timetable of Government Business. |
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Three Week Timetable of Assembly Business Minutes: Business
Committee determined the organisation of Assembly business and agreed to
schedule the following items of business: Wednesday
25 April 2018 – ·
Statement by the Chair of the Constitutional and
Legislative Affairs Committee: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill – the
National Assembly’s decision in relation to subordinate legislation procedures
(30 mins)
Wednesday
2 May 2018 – ·
Time allocated to Plaid Cymru (60 mins) · Short Debate – Rhianon Passmore (Islwyn) (30 mins) – postponed from 21 March ·
Wednesday
9 May 2018 – ·
Debate on the Economy, Infrastructure and
Skills Committee report: Apprenticeships in Wales (60 mins) ·
Time allocated to the Welsh Conservatives (60
mins) ·
Time allocated to the Plaid Cymru (60 mins) |
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Plenary |
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Request to schedule a No Named Day Motion for debate Minutes: Business
Managers agreed to not schedule the motion for debate, believing that it has
been superseded by the Welsh Conservatives’ motion scheduled for
Wednesday. The Leader of the House noted
that the Welsh Government had the same issues around this motion as she had set
out regarding Wednesday’s Welsh Conservatives motion. |
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Legislation |
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Letter from CLA: draft Legislation Bill Minutes: Business
Managers noted the letter. |
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Letter from CYPE: Childcare Funding (Wales) Bill Minutes: Business
Managers confirmed their in principle decision of 13 March to refer the
Childcare Funding (Wales) Bill to the Children, Young People and Education
Committee for Stage 1 consideration, and agreed the deadline for the Stage 1
Committee to report by as 6 July 2018 and the deadline for the completion of
Stage 2 Committee proceedings as 12 October 2018. |
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Annex to paper 6, Government paper: Childcare Funding (Wales) Bill |
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Standing Orders |
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Letters from Finance and CLA: S116C Orders in Council Minutes: The
Leader of the House stated that the Government did not want a standalone
Standing Order and that the provisions should be included in Standing Order
27. Paul Davies stated that he believed
a standalone Standing Order would be appropriate, as recommended by the
committees. The
Secretariat confirmed that they will bring a paper to a future meeting
containing both options. |
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Letter from CLA: S116C Orders in Council |
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Annex to papers 8 + 9, paper on Amending Standing Orders S116C |
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Committees |
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Request from CLA to extend its meeting slot Minutes: Business
Managers noted the issues raised and agreed to write to the Committee informing
them that requests to meet outside their slot would be considered on a case by
case basis. |