New Standards Commissioner with greater powers selected

21 October 2010

Gerard Elias QC has been selected, subject to approval by the Assembly, to be the National Assembly for Wales’s new independent Commissioner for Standards.

This new independent office was established by the Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards Measure which was approved by Assembly Members last year.

This new law:

• Ensures that the Commissioner is independent of the Assembly and therefore able to act with complete objectivity when investigating complaints against Assembly Members;

• Provides the Commissioner with strong new powers, similar to those of a court of law, to investigate complaints rigorously, and

• Makes the Commissioner responsible for promoting high standards of conduct in public life among Assembly Members.

Mr Elias has a legal career spanning over 40 years. He is a barrister and has most recently been Leading Counsel to the Baha Mousa Inquiry.

He also has many years’ experience in the field of professional discipline at a high profile UK level, particularly in sport.

He was chosen from a strong field of candidates to take up the new strengthened role.

Mr Elias said: “ I am very pleased to have been offered the role of Commissioner for Standards and look forward to building on the good work already carried out by my predecessor.

“I see it as my purpose to provide, both for Assembly Members and the people of Wales, assurance that Assembly Members operate in accordance with the highest standards in public life.

“I am sure that the enshrined independence of the Commissioner and the enhanced powers granted will allow me to investigate robustly anything which calls these standards into question. This, in itself, should provide confidence that the important public office of Assembly Member is to be held in the highest regard.“