National Assembly for Wales

Good morning. Can I welcome Members to the committee this morning? Just to remind ourselves, this is the first meeting of the Llywydd’s Committee of the sixth Senedd. In accordance with Standing Order 34.19, I have determined that the public are excluded from attending this committee meeting in order to protect public health. However, public items of this meeting are being broadcast live on Senedd.tv, and all participants will be joining via video-conferencing. The meeting is bilingual, and simultaneous translation is available for Members from Welsh to English, and for the public if you choose the correct Senedd.tv option. A Record of Proceedings is going to be published, and aside from the procedural adaptations relating to conducting business remotely, all other Standing Order requirements that apply to this committee remain in place.

We move on to apologies and introductions. We’ve received no apologies this morning. I’m pleased to see that everyone is with us. So, welcome, everyone. Are there any declarations of interest from Members in relation to their role in this committee? I see everyone’s shaking their heads, so 'no' for that.

So, we move on to the committee procedures and ways of working. Members will be aware that the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 states that the Llywydd’s Committee must be chaired by the Llywydd or the Deputy Presiding Officer, and Standing Order 17.22 is disapplied to the Llywydd’s Committee, meaning that this committee cannot utilise it to appoint a temporary chair. Standing Order 17.23 provides for the Chair to determine procedures have regard to any written guidance which may be issued by the Presiding Officer where Standing Orders do not provide otherwise and, therefore, it is possible, in my absence, if a temporary breakdown of broadcasting happens, or a situation where I become unwell, the procedure would be for the committee to be chaired by the Llywydd, if available. And if it’s not practical or she is not available, the committee will be able to nominate a Member to act in a chairing capacity for the purpose of the committee taking evidence from witnesses. The acting Chair will not, however, be able to put questions for formal decisions by the committee. Are Members content with that? And in line with that, therefore, I propose, if my connection fails this morning during our session, that Peredur Owen Griffiths acts as temporary Chair in that such failure. Are Members content for that purpose this morning? I see they are. So, if my broadband fails, Peredur will act as Chair until I reconnect or the meeting concludes.

Moving on. Item 3 on the agenda is the Finance Committee's statement of principles for directly funded bodies, and you should have had this in your papers as paper 1. I hope you've had time to read this. This is, basically, the Finance Committee's statement of principles, adopted by the fifth Senedd's Llywydd's Committee, in relation to bodies that are funded by the Welsh consolidated fund. Our role is going to be looking at one such body, and therefore the principles should well apply to us. Have you had a chance to all read that paper? I propose, therefore, that the committee adopts the Finance Committee's statement of principles, and requests the Electoral Commission to have regard to it in preparation of their budget proposals. And there was an associated letter from the Minister for Finance and Local Government that supported this move. So, are Members content to adopt those principles? Again, I see that they are. So, we will, therefore, adopt those principles in our consideration as a committee.

Item 4—papers to note. There are three papers to note: one from the UK Government Minister of State for the Constitution and Devolution—as she was then—and two from the Electoral Commission of the UK. All three papers relate to the Government's Elections Bill 2021, which is currently going through Parliament. Has anyone got an issue to raise on this, because just to remind you that we are going to be discussing this in item 7 on the agenda? So, unless there's anything specific you want to raise now, we'll note these papers and we will discuss them in item 7. Are Members content to do so? Thank you.

We'll move on to item 5. Item 5 is a motion to exclude the public and we'll move into private for the remainder of the meeting. Therefore, I propose, in accordance with Standing Order 17.42, to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of the meeting. Are Members content to do so? They are. Then we will go into private session for the remainder of today's meeting.