The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make
legislation in Wales. It is commonly also known as the Welsh Assembly. The
Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs.
Members are elected for four-year terms under an additional members system,
where 40 AMs represent geographical constituencies elected by the plurality
system, and 20 AMs represent five electoral regions using the d'Hondt
method of proportional representation. The Assembly was created by the
Government of Wales Act 1998, which followed a referendum in 1997. The
Assembly had no powers to initiate primary legislation until limited
law-making powers were gained through the Government of Wales Act 2006. Its
primary law-making powers were enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum
on 3 March 2011, making it possible for it to legislate without having to
consult the UK parliament or the Secretary of State for Wales in the 20
areas that are devolved. History
= Road to the Assembly = An appointed Council for Wales and
Monmouthshire was established in 1949 to "ensure the government is adequately
informed of the impact of government activities on the general life of the
people of Wales". The council had 27 members nominated by local authorities
in Wales, the University of Wales, National Eisteddfod Council and the
Welsh Tourist Board. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 and
the post of Secretary of State for Wales and the Welsh Office were established in
1964 leading to the abolition of the Council for Wales. The establishment of
the Welsh Office effectively created the basis for the territorial governance of
Wales. The Royal Commission on the Constitution was set up in 1969 by
Harold Wilson's Labour Government to investigate the possibility of
devolution for Scotland and Wales. Its recommendations formed the basis of the
1974 White Paper Democracy and Devolution: proposals for Scotland and
Wales, which proposed the creation of a Welsh Assembly. However, voters rejected
the proposals by a majority of four to one in a referendum held in 1979.
After the 1997 general election, the new Labour Government argued that an
Assembly would be more democratically accountable than the Welsh Office. For
eleven years prior to 1997 Wales had been represented in the Cabinet of the
United Kingdom by a Secretary of State who did not represent a Welsh
constituency at Westminster. A second referendum was held on 18 September 1997
in which voters approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales by a
majority of 6,712 votes, or 50.3% of the vote.
The following year the Government of Wales Act was passed by the United
Kingdom parliament, establishing the Assembly.
In July 2002, the Welsh Government established an independent commission,
with Lord Richard as chair, to review the powers and electoral arrangements of
the National Assembly in order to ensure that it is able to operate in the best
interests of the people of Wales. The Richard Commission reported in March
2004. It recommended that the National Assembly should have powers to legislate
in certain areas, whilst others would remain the preserve of Westminster. It
also recommended changing the electoral system to the single transferable vote
which would produce greater proportionality.
In response, the British government, in its Better Governance for Wales White
Paper, published on 15 June 2005, proposed a more permissive law-making
system for the Welsh Assembly based on the use of Parliamentary Orders in
Council. In so doing, the Government rejected many of the cross party Richard
Commission's recommendations. This has attracted criticism from opposition
parties and others. = Enhanced powers: The Government of
Wales Act 2006 = The Government of Wales Act 2006
received Royal Assent on 25 July 2006. It conferred on the Assembly legislative
powers similar to other devolved legislatures through the ability to pass
Assembly Measures concerning matters that are devolved. Requests for further
legislative powers made through legislative competence requests were
subject to the veto of the Secretary of State for Wales, House of Commons or
House of Lords. The Act reformed the assembly to a
parliamentary-type structure, establishing the Welsh Government as an
entity separate from, but accountable to the National Assembly. It enables the
Assembly to legislate within its devolved fields.
The Act also reforms the Assembly's electoral system. It prevents
individuals from standing as candidates in both constituency and regional seats.
This aspect of the act was subject to a great deal of criticism, most notably
from the Electoral Commission. The Act was heavily criticised. Plaid
Cymru, the Official Opposition in the National Assembly from 1999–2007,
attacked it for not delivering a fully-fledged parliament. Many
commentators have also criticised the Labour Party's allegedly partisan
attempt to alter the electoral system. By preventing regional Assembly Members
from standing in constituency seats the party has been accused of changing the
rules to protect constituency representatives. Labour had 29 members
in the Assembly at the time, all of whom held constituency seats.
The changes to the Assembly's powers were commenced on 4 May 2007, after the
election. Following a referendum on 3 March 2011,
the Welsh Assembly gained direct law making powers, without the need to
consult Westminster. = Future devolution =
Following recommendations by the Silk Commission, the UK government announced
in November 2013 that some borrowing powers are to be devolved to the
Assembly along with control of landfill tax and stamp duty. Additionally the
Wales Act 2014 provides for a referendum to be held on the Assembly's ability to
set a degree of income tax. Buildings
= Senedd = The debating chamber in Cardiff Bay, the
Senedd, was designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and built by Taylor
Woodrow, with environmental and MEP design by BDSP Partnership. It uses
traditional Welsh materials such as slate and Welsh oak in its construction,
and the design is based around the concepts of openness and transparency.
The Timber ceiling and centre funnel, manufactured and installed by BCL Timber
Projects is made from Canadian sourced Western Red Cedar.
The Senedd houses the debating chamber and Committee Rooms. It was officially
opened by Queen Elizabeth II on St David's Day, 1 March 2006.
The Senedd is designed to be environmentally friendly: it uses an
Earth Heat Exchange system for heating; rainwater is collected from the roof and
used for flushing toilets and cleaning windows, and the roof features a wind
cowl which funnels natural light and air into the debating chamber below.
= Tŷ Hywel, Pierhead Building and Cathays Park Buildings =
The debating chamber was initially based in Tŷ Hywel, next to the site of the
present building. The offices of Assembly Members are still in this
building which is connected to the Senedd by a skyway. The National
Assembly for Wales Commission is also responsible for the Pierhead Building,
which is the location of "The Assembly at the Pierhead" exhibition, and is the
Visitor and Education Centre for the National Assembly for Wales as well as
housing a small giftshop. The exhibition provides visitors with a unique
opportunity to access the most up-to-date information on who's who,
what's happening and how the Assembly works.
The Crown Buildings in Cathays Park are the headquarters of the Welsh
Government. Elected officials
After each election, the Assembly elects one Assembly Member to serve as
Presiding Officer, and another to serve as a deputy. Rosemary Butler, Labour AM,
has been Presiding Officer since the beginning of the 2011–2016 term, having
taken over from Dafydd Elis Thomas. Lord Elis-Thomas, Plaid Cymru AM, had been
Presiding Officer since the Assembly's creation, standing down from the post in
2011. Butler had been his deputy since 2007. The Presiding Officer also acts as
Chair of the National Assembly for Wales Commission. Both the Presiding Officer
and the Deputy Presiding Officer are expected not to vote.
Permanent officials The permanent administrative and support
staff of the Welsh Assembly are employed by the Assembly Commission. They are not
civil servants although they enjoy similar terms and conditions of service
to members of the UK Civil Service. Powers and status
The National Assembly consists of 60 elected members. They use the title
Assembly Member or Aelod y Cynulliad. The executive arm of the National
Assembly for Wales, the Welsh Government, has been a Labour
administration led by First Minister, Carwyn Jones, since May 2011. The
previous administration, had been a coalition between Labour—led by First
Minister, Carwyn Jones—and Plaid Cymru—led by Deputy First Minister,
Ieuan Wyn Jones—from December 2009 and to May 2011.
The executive and civil servants are mainly based in Cardiff's Cathays Park
while the Assembly Members, the Assembly Commission and Ministerial support staff
are based in Cardiff Bay where a new £67 million Assembly Building, known as the
Senedd, has been built. One important feature of the National
Assembly until 2007 was that there was no legal or constitutional separation of
the legislative and executive functions, since it was a single corporate entity.
Compared with other parliamentary systems, and arrangements for devolution
in other countries of the UK, this was unusual. In practice, however, there was
separation of functions, and the terms "Assembly" and "Assembly Parliamentary
Service" came into use to distinguish between the two arms. The Government of
Wales Act 2006 regularised the separation when it came into effect
following the 2007 Assembly Election. Initially, the Assembly did not have
primary legislative or fiscal powers, as these powers were reserved by
Westminster. The Assembly did have powers to pass secondary legislation in
devolved areas. Sometimes secondary legislation could be used to amend
primary legislation, but the scope of this was very limited. for example, the
first Government of Wales Act gave the Assembly power to amend primary
legislation relating to the merger of certain public bodies. However, most
secondary powers were conferred on the executive by primary legislation to give
the executive more powers, and the Assembly has had wider legislative
powers than appearances might suggest. For example, the Assembly delayed local
elections due to be held in 2003 for a year by use of secondary powers, so that
they would not correspond with Assembly elections. In 2001 the UK parliament
used primary legislation to delay for one month local elections in England
during the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic.
The Assembly gained limited primary legislative powers following the 2007
election and the passage of the Government of Wales Act 2006. These laws
are known as Assembly Measures and can be enacted in specific fields and
matters within the legislative competency of the Assembly. New matters
and fields can be devolved by Acts of the UK Parliament or by LCOs approved by
Parliament. While in principle the Assembly has no
tax-varying powers, it can influence the rate of Council Tax set by local
authorities, which are part-funded by a grant from the Welsh government. It also
has some discretion over charges for government services. Notable examples
where this discretion has been used to create significant differences from
other areas in the UK include: Charges for NHS prescriptions in Wales –
these have now been abolished. Charges for University Tuition – are
different for Welsh resident students studying at Welsh Universities, compared
with students from or studying elsewhere in the UK.
Charging for Residential Care – In Wales there is a flat rate of contribution
towards the cost of nursing care, for those who require residential care.
This means in reality that there is a wider definition of "nursing care" than
in England and therefore less dependence on means testing in Wales than in
England, meaning that more people are entitled to higher levels of state
assistance. These variations in the levels of charges may be viewed as de
facto tax varying powers. This model of more limited legislative
powers was partly due to the fact that Wales has had the same legal system as
England since 1536, when it was merged with England. Ireland and Scotland were
never merged with England, and so always retained some distinct differences in
their legal systems. The Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland
Assembly both have deeper and wider powers.
The Assembly inherited the powers and budget of the Secretary of State for
Wales and most of the functions of the Welsh Office. It has power to vary laws
passed by Westminster using secondary legislation. Stephen Crabb, who
represents the constituency of Preseli Pembrokeshire in the Westminster
Parliament, is currently the Secretary of State for Wales.
Following a referendum on 4 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law
making powers, without the need to consult Westminster. On 3 July 2012, the
Welsh Assembly passed its first act, the Local Government Byelaws Bill.
= Devolved areas = The National Assembly for Wales has the
competence to pass bills for Acts of the Assembly in 20 "Subjects" outlined in
schedule 7 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Those subjects are: Agriculture, fisheries, forestry and
rural development Ancient monuments and historic buildings
Culture Economic development
Education and training Environment
Fire and rescue services and promotion of fire safety
Food Health and health services
Highways and transport Housing
Local government Public administration
Social welfare Sport and recreation
Tourism Town and country planning
Water and flood defence Welsh language
Members, constituencies, and electoral system
Under mixed member proportional representation, a type of additional
member system, forty of the AMs are elected from single-member
constituencies on a plurality voting system basis, the constituencies being
equivalent to those used for the House of Commons and twenty AMs are elected
from regional closed lists using an alternative party vote. There are five
regions: Mid and West Wales, North Wales, South Wales Central, South Wales
East and South Wales West, each of which returns four members. The additional
members produce a degree of proportionality within each region.
Whereas voters can choose any regional party list irrespective of their party
vote in the constituency election, list AMs are not elected independently of the
constituency element; rather, elected constituency AMs are deemed to be
pre-elected list representatives for the purposes of calculating remainders in
the d'Hondt method. Overall proportionality is limited by the low
proportion of list members and the regionalisation of the list element.
Consequently, the Assembly as a whole has a greater degree of proportionality
than the plurality voting system used for British parliamentary elections, but
still deviates somewhat from proportionality. The Single Transferable
Vote system had been considered for the Assembly by the Labour Party as early as
1995–96, but according to the evidence given to the Richard Commission by Ron
Davies, a former Welsh Secretary, To date there have been four elections
to the Assembly, in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.
Elections There have been four elections to the
Assembly, in 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011. The next election will be in 2016,
delayed from 2015 as the UK general election was held in 2015.
Composition Following the 2011 election, Welsh
Labour held exactly half of the seats in the Assembly, falling just short of an
overall majority. This meant that only Labour can form a government. On 17 May,
it was noticed that two members elected for the Liberal Democrats held posts
which disqualified them from being Assembly members. After investigation it
emerged that Aled Roberts had received the wrong information from the Electoral
Commission, and was re-admitted to the National Assembly after a vote by AMs.
The Liberal Democrats withdrew a request to re-admit the other AM, John Dixon,
who has been replaced by Eluned Parrott, who was second in the South Wales
Central Region. See also
Contemporary Welsh Law List of Welsh Assembly by-elections
London Assembly Member of the National Assembly for
Wales National Assembly for Wales
constituencies and electoral regions National Assembly for Wales election,
1999 National Assembly for Wales election,
2003 National Assembly for Wales election,
2007 National Assembly for Wales election,
2011 Northern Ireland Assembly
Scottish Parliament Parliament of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom budget Wales-only laws
References The Queen opens the First Welsh Assembly
1999 The Queen opens the Third Session of the
Welsh Assembly 2007 The Queen opens the Fourth Session of
the Welsh Assembly 2011 National Assembly for Wales
WalesCymru: Assembly Welsh politicians, including those of
Welsh descent in other countries Assembly website in Welsh/Gwefan y
Cynulliad yn Gymraeg NAW: Constituencies and Electoral
Regions NAW: Who? - Elected Members
Government of Wales Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 2006
Government of Wales Act 2006 website BBC's Senedd guide
National Assembly for Wales - Video