Increased control and capacity - Presiding Officer sets out her vision for Assembly with enhanced financial powers

20 January 2014

The National Assembly for Wales’s Presiding Officer, Dame Rosemary Butler AM, will set out her vision for a strong Assembly that will be able to properly scrutnise proposed new financial powers on Monday (20 January).

That vision calls for the devolution of power to allow the Assembly to control its own budget-setting process and an increase in the number of Assembly Members to 80, in order to ensure proper scrutiny of taxation and borrowing powers.

In her submission to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, which is taking evidence at the Assembly as part of its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Wales Bill, she will say:

• that it would be an anomaly for the Assembly to be given the powers over taxation and borrowing, but not the legal control to decide the process by which such powers are used;

• that the Draft Wales Bill should be amended to give the National Assembly for Wales legislative control to amend its own budgetary processes.

She will also tell the Committee that while the Assembly currently has 60 Members to make laws and hold the Government to account, as Government Ministers and certain other office holders do not sit on committees, only 42 Members are available to do the detailed scrutiny work in our committees.  She will say that in light of the additional responsibilities that would be conferred by the draft Bill, it would also be appropriate for the Wales Bill to increase the number of Assembly Members to 80.

“The framework of the National Assembly for Wales’s budgetary procedures is set out by the Government of Wales Act 2006 which cannot currently be amended by the Assembly,” the Presiding Officer will say.

“Though some change in process will be possible without legislative change, the introduction of taxation and borrowing powers could make this procedure unfit for purpose, making its amendment imperative, as identified by the Silk Commission in its first Report.

“These additional financial powers are a welcome addition to the Assembly’s remit, but it is vital that the Wales Bill also gives the Assembly the control and capacity it needs to ensure these powers are used effectively for the people of Wales.”

In addition, Dame Rosemary will call for:

• the Assembly to be referred to as a Parliament (reflects our law-making powers) and the title of Presiding Officer to ‘Speaker’;

• the Bill to be amended so that the Assembly is required to meet with 14 days, rather than 7 as it is at present, of an Assembly election to reflect the likelihood that the result is unlikely to deliver a majority for one party and to allow more time for coalition negotiations;

• the Mill to reconsider the duties of the Secretary of State for Wales, many of which now appear outdated, and amend the SOS’s power in relation to the Assembly such as:

  • the duty to participate in Assembly proceedings as part of the consultation on the UK Government’s legislative programme.;

• the Bill to remove the constraints on the composition of Assembly committees, which should be decided by the Assembly itself through its Standing Orders.