More barriers to break down as National Assembly for Wales turns 10

Although 70% of us now support devolution, taking part in politics needs to be encouraged if the National Assembly for Wales is to truly improve the lives of all people in Wales.

That’s the message that the Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, has been hearing from minority groups across Wales.

He visited groups who have found difficulty in participating in the work of the National Assembly.

They included young people, disabled people groups, black & ethnic minorities organisations, lesbian gay & bisexual groups and faith-based groups.

“We don’t have democracy unless people take part,” said the Presiding officer.

“The Assembly has a responsibility to make people’s lives better in Wales, but for it to be a success it needs to make a greater effort to involve people in its work.  

“The Assembly’s priorities for the next five years need to be three fold – to communicate more effectively what it does - to make sure people are given the chance to take part in making laws and scrutinising Government – and to deliver practical outcomes for all the people of Wales.

“Our fact finding tour has highlighted the needs of some of the least represented groups in Wales. They tell us we need to do a lot more to involve all the people of Wales in the Assembly’s work.

“The Assembly doesn’t exist for the benefit of the 60 elected members but for the whole of Wales. A future referendum on greater powers for the Assembly will only be won if the people of Wales feel they can trust the Assembly to deliver for all the people of Wales.”  

Three main themes have come to the fore from our discussions with the representative groups we met, some of which the National Assembly is already tackling, and others which warrant wider discussion:

Perceived barrier: It was felt that politicians’ priority is to appeal to the population at large in order to be re-elected, rather than listening to the voice of minority groups.

Perceived barrier: Many are still unaware of how to access the opportunities to engage with their Assembly Members and the work of the National Assembly for Wales and the difference it could make.

Perceived barrier: a lack of identifiable figures from minority groups in politics exacerbates some communities’ exclusion from political process. This, coupled with a reluctance to engage with the political process based on previous bad experiences of government challenges some groups’ involvement in the Welsh political process at the most basic level.

The National Assembly committed to enhancing enhanced its engagement offer considerably developing new ways for the pubic to engage in our scrutiny and legislative business and to connect to their representatives. Some examples of what we are doing to address the perception barriers include:

• under taking wider consultation exercises for committee enquiries than ever, e.g. widest ever legislative consultation over Welsh Language LCO and launching out first ever call for video evidence to feed into Sustainability inquiry on Flooding later this month to ensure we make the consultation process as easy and accessible as possible.

• Our Petitions system is a particularly successful mechanism for public engagement, having received and dealt with more than 150 since the establishment of the system back in July 2007. A series of workshops to inform the Welsh public of this process is planned to start at the major summer events including the Eisteddfod.  The committee is also carrying out work canvassing views of how the petitions system has worked so far.

• A new outreach team based across Wales’ electoral regions now have a specific remit to cement new working relationships and partnerships across Welsh communities and with Welsh civil society to get them involved in Welsh democracy;

• As part of a new mentoring scheme the National Assembly is working with the Welsh Local Government Association to engage people who are historically under-represented in our democratic processes and provide participants with the chance to learn about civic and democratic participation in Wales. Assembly Members and Councillors will mentor participants for a minimum of ten days over a six month period providing them with an opportunity to witness a breadth of experiences. The scheme is scheduled to be launched in the Autumn.

A new have your say forum has been developed for our website which will enable one and all to have their say on the work of the Assembly