T01 Heledd Fychan, Member of the Senedd for South Wales Central, Plaid Cymru Group

Pwyllgor Senedd y Dyfodol | Future Senedd Committee

Ymchwiliad i’r trothwyon yn y Rheolau Sefydlog | Inquiry into Standing Order thresholds

Dear Chair,

Regarding: Consultation on Standing Orders

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Future Senedd Committee’s consultation, with a view to informing its consideration of point (c) of its remit, related to the thresholds currently stipulated in the Senedd’s Standing Orders.

I enclose the views of the Plaid Cymru Group regarding the range of Standing Orders under consideration. Where the group does not express a view, we have omitted the relevant Standing Orders from our response.

I hope that this submission will be useful as the Committee continues to discuss these important matters to help guide the Seventh Senedd’s procedures.

Yours sincerely,   

Heledd Fychan 

Plaid Cymru Group Business Manager

 

Political groups (Standing Order 1.3);

The Plaid Cymru Group is of the opinion that the Standing Order covering the size of political groups should safeguard the voice of smaller parties and ensure fairness for every Member of the Senedd. Increasing the threshold significantly would be a disproportionate step and would undermine this important principle.

We would, therefore, favour a threshold of five or six to form a political group, in respect of receiving additional financial support to operate as a group.

We believe that consideration should be given to exploring the possibility of introducing a different threshold for speaking privileges, with this threshold being set at a lower level to ensure that the full range of different voices is reflected in proceedings.

Our view is that the final decision on the interpretation of this Standing Order should not be the sole responsibility of the Llywydd, and/or that there should be no ambiguity that could place the Llywydd in a position of having to make an arbitrary decision. Clause (ii) of the Standing Order, which places an unfair burden of responsibility on the Llywydd as an individual, should be looked at again.

Resignation or Removal from Office of Presiding Officer or Deputy (Standing Order 6.26);

The Group believes that a threshold of 10 per cent (that is, 10 Members) is appropriate and reasonable for debating a motion to remove a Presiding Officer or Deputy Presiding Officer from office. 

We do not share the view that the 10 Members should be from two different political parties. For example, with a new proportional system, it is possible that only one opposition party would reach the threshold for a group in future Parliaments.

Resignation etc. of First Minister or another Member of the Government (Standing Order 8.7);

See our views on Standing Order 6.26.

Furthermore, on matters of confidence (be that in relation to individuals or an entire Government), the gravity of these situations should be reflected in the Standing Orders, thereby allowing any motion that meets the threshold to be debated in Plenary at the earliest possible opportunity.

Procedural motions (Standing Order 12.33); 

We believe that the current Standing Order should remain as it is, namely in proportion to the new number of Members (in other words, there should be 16 Members in favour to move to an immediate vote). The clause that takes into consideration the rights of minority parties within the Senedd should be protected.

Decisions on motions and amendments (Standing Orders 12.44 and 12.46); 

We believe that the threshold for these two Standing Orders should be increased proportionately (in other words, one sixth of the total number of Members).

Quorum (Standing Order 17.31); 

We would favour not amending this Standing Order.

Membership of the Public Accounts Committee (Standing Order 18.5);

We would favour not amending this Standing Order.

Re-making and revising Standing Orders (Standing Order 33.1).

We believe that this threshold should be increased so that the threshold for making a request that the Business Committee considers and reports on any proposal to re-make and revise the Standing Orders is increased proportionately (in other words, to 10 per cent or 10 Members).

 

Omitted:

-      Removal from office (Standing Order 10.8)

-      Proposals for an Order by a Member, other than a member of the Government (Standing Order 25.28)