National Assembly Committee wants to hear public views on proposals for a Measure to establish a statutory role of Commissioner for Standards

The National Assembly’s Committee on Standards of Conduct recently undertook a consultation exercise on its intention to propose an Assembly Measure to establish the office of a statutory Commissioner for Standards.  Following that consultation, the Committee has agreed the wording of its draft proposed Measure and is undertaking a further consultation period.  

The Committee would value the views of interested parties on whether:

• they support the key provisions set out in the proposed Measure,

• they think the proposed Assembly Measure will achieve its overall purpose and aim,

• they think the estimated financial costs of introducing the proposed Measure, detailed in the Explanatory Memorandum, are accurate,

• there are further provisions that they would like to see added to the proposed Assembly Measure

The purpose of the proposed Measure will be to make provision about the establishment of a statutory role of Commissioner for Standards. The proposed Measure will enshrine in legislation a robust role National Assembly for Wales Standards Commissioner backed up by the full force of law, setting out the Commissioner’s functions and providing the Commissioner with the powers to discharge those functions effectively.

Further information about the Committee on Standards of Conduct

Interested parties are invited to submit written evidence to Catherine Hunt, Committee Service, The National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF99 1NA, to arrive no later than Wednesday 31 December 2008. If possible,

please supply an electronic version in MS Word or Rich Text format, either by e mail to standards@wales.gsi.gov.uk. or on a disk. Further guidance on the submission of evidence is attached.

The Committee may call on those who have submitted written evidence to supplement it in oral evidence to the Committee. Please indicate in your response whether you would be prepared to give evidence in person.

Witnesses should be aware that once written evidence has been submitted to the Committee it is treated as the property of the Committee. It is the Committee’s intention to place written papers on its website, and they may subsequently be printed with the report.