|
Senedd Commission
|
|
Venue: |
Remote - Digital |
|
||||
|
Date: |
Friday, 25 October 2024 |
|
||||
|
Time: |
12.45 |
|
||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Minutes: SC(6)2024(7) |
||||||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Commission Members: |
|
Rt. Hon. Elin Jones MS (Chair) Hefin David MS Janet Finch-Saunders MS Adam Price MS Joyce Watson MS |
||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Officials present: |
|
Manon Antoniazzi, Chief Executive and Clerk Arwyn Jones, Director of Communications and Engagement Ed Williams, Director of Senedd Resources Matthew Richards, Head of the Legal Service Leanne Baker, Acting Chief People Officer Simon Hart, Interim Head of Financial Services Nicholas Morgan Anna Daniel, Head of Strategic Transformation Sulafa Thomas, Head of Commission and Member Support Gwion Evans, Head of the Llywydd's Private Office
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Others in attendance: |
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||
1 Introduction
1.a Introduction and apologies
No apologies were received.
1.b Declarations of interest
There were no declarations of interest.
1.c Minutes of the previous meeting
Commissioners agreed the Minutes of the meeting on 23 September.
2 Senedd Commission Budget 2025-26
The Commissioner with the budget and governance portfolio provided an update on the progress of the 2025-26 Senedd Commission Budget following scrutiny by the Finance Committee on 3 October.
The Commissioner proposed responses to each of the Committee’s recommendations, which had been published on 22 October. Commissioners agreed the content of their response to the report.
Commissioners also approved the Final Senedd Commission Budget for 2025-26, without the £0.456m additional funding requested via the Welsh Government’s First Supplementary Budget 2024-25, which had been agreed by the Senedd during the plenary debate on 22 October.
Commissioners agreed that further, more detailed benchmarking of structures with peer bodies would be undertaken in due course, at a point when it would not redirect resource away from Senedd Reform work or election preparations and when a ‘steady state’ on the staffing establishment had been achieved in relation to supporting an enlarged Senedd.
One Commissioner highlighted their group’s continued position of opposing Senedd Reform and associated costs.
The Final Budget document for 2025-26 would be laid on 13 November 2024 with the Budget Motion to be debated in plenary on 20 November 2024.
3 Ways of Working - Tŷ Hywel
Commissioners received a summary of the recent work on the Tŷ Hywel 26 project and considered final proposals for the creation of the 36 new Member offices within Tŷ Hywel building to enable procurement for the project and for works to commence in the current financial year.
Commissioners noted the work and engagement undertaken to date. They raised a number of points in support of the provision being sufficiently flexible to provide for needs such as physical accessibility, to support neurodiversity, and to provide a variety of offer to meet the needs of future Members. They agreed the recommended options for the creation of
- additional Member offices in an ‘open plan’ model on floor 3A (option 1); and
- ‘standard single offices’ on 2A within Tŷ Hywel (option 3).
4 Seventh Senedd Matters
Commissioners discussed the two recommendations made to the Commission in the Reform Bill Committee Stage 1 Report on the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill.
Whilst the Bill had been withdrawn by the Government, the matters in the two recommendations made to the Commission were not reliant on the progression of the Bill.
Commissioners considered their response, and agreed to accept recommendation 21, and provide further information about how this would be undertaken.
They also agreed to accept recommendation 20 to undertake a gender sensitive audit. Commissioners agreed to outline to the Committee that consideration would now be given to determine scope of the audit, and the optimal method of delivery and associated resources, to ensure the outcomes of the audit would be available in sufficient time to inform decisions on the Cardiff Bay 2032 project, and decisions to be taken by the Seventh Senedd about its ways of working.
Commissioners agreed that, Joyce Watson would lead on this work, including the initial scoping work, and would return to the Commission with proposals for the scope and optimal method of delivery.
5 Papers to note:
5.a Home Office Letter re: Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill - 12 September 2024
Commissioners noted a letter from the Security Minister to the Llywydd regarding the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill’s provisions in relation to the Senedd.
5.b Note on Sickness absence benchmarking
Commissioners noted sickness absence data and information following their request for further analysis and benchmarking.
5.c Executive Board update (RAD decisions)
Commissioners noted the summary of recent recruitment decisions.
5.d Notes from Senedd Party Contact Group 26 September Meeting
Commissioners noted the summary of the 26 September Senedd Party Group meeting.
5.e Senedd Party Contact Group Update Note July 2024
Commissioners noted the update provided to Senedd Party Contact Group members in July.
5.f Letter from the Business Committee dated 22 October, inviting consultation on committee chair job-sharing
Commissioners noted a letter from the Business Committee dated 22 October, inviting information on any resource implications relating to proposals for committee chair job-sharing, and agreed to receive a draft response out of meeting.
6 Any other business
IRB recruitment - The Commission were provided with a brief update on the plans for the necessary recruitment to the Independent Remuneration Board.
Future Senedd - One Commissioner inquired about the scope of work that would be undertaken by the newly established Future Senedd Committee. The Llywydd agreed to seek information from the Chair of the Committee.
Commissioners were presented with a paper relating to a staffing matter, in the presence of the following officials: Matthew Richards, Leanne Baker and Simon Hart. The Commissioners accepted the recommendation set out in the paper.
In the period since the last meeting Commissioners had agreed final adjustments to a letter from Hefin David MS to the Finance Committee dated 27 September 2024, to make clear that the content of the letter encompassed the response to Recommendation 2 of the Committee’s report of the previous year.