Probity, accountability, value for money and transparency – Remuneration Board’s second annual report
12 July 2012
In July 2010 the National Assembly for Wales’s Independent Remuneration Board was established following Royal Approval of legislation.
Its aim is to establish a system of financial support for Assembly Members which is “fit for purpose”.
In its wide-ranging first determination in March 2011, the Board restructured the allowances, ensuring probity, accountability, value for money and transparency in the financial support given to Members.
In its second annual report the Board recognises the positive response from Members towards its work, particularly in balancing the value for money aspect of its work, with the desire to provide a sufficient support structure to Members in order to best facilitate their scrutiny role.
“Given the enhanced legislative powers of the Assembly, we are encouraged that resources are being targeted more effectively,” said Board Chair, Sir George Reid.
“This enables Members to fulfill their roles of holding the Welsh Government to account, scrutinising legislation and finance, and representing the interest of their constituents.
“It is right that meeting this goal underpins and informs all the work that the Remuneration Board carries out.
“If we are to have a 21st Century law-making body in Wales that reflects the hopes and aspirations of its people, then those that represent them must have the support, financial or otherwise that allows them to meet this fundamental challenge.”
The Board is currently reviewing Members’s staffing allowances and will make a determination by April 2013.
AM’s pensions are also being looked at with a determination due in March 2014, before the Board moves on to consideration of the total remuneration package for the Fifth Assembly, with a final determination due in 2015.
The full report can be found here.