Meetings

The Business Committee noted the response from the Standards of Conduct Committee containing proposed guidance relating to the requirement for Members who table business on behalf of others to declare interests at the point of tabling. The Business Committee indicated that it was content with the proposal.

The Business Committee returned to consideration of amendments to Standing Orders proposed by the Petitions Committee and agreed to propose some of the changes to the Senedd.

The Business Committee decided that it would not take forward a proposal to amend Standing Order 23.1, which would have required petitions to be referred to a single committee, on the basis that it does not wish to limit the flexibility of the next Business Committee when it establishes committees in the Seventh Senedd.

Business Managers noted that a draft Standing Order change report would be produced for agreement at a future meeting.

The Business Committee agreed the draft report.

The Business Committee agreed the draft report.

The Business Committee noted the letter and agreed not to propose any changes to Standing Orders regarding the Chairs’ Forum in the current Senedd.

The Committee agreed to include the potential for procedural consideration of this matter as part of its legacy report ahead of the Seventh Senedd.

The Business Committee considered the letter and proposed Standing Order changes from the Petitions Committee. Business Managers agreed to discuss with their groups before returning to consider the proposed changes further at its next meeting.

The Business Committee agreed to propose changes to Standing Orders to give effect to recommendation 1 in the Standards of Conduct Committee’s report on declarations of interest (removing the prohibition on voting where a Member has declared a registrable interest). It agreed that the Standing Order change proposal report should reflect the reasons given by Standards of Conduct Committee for removing the prohibition on voting, which included that Committee’s assertion that the nature of the requirement around prohibition on voting means it would only be triggered in very specific circumstances; that there are no instances of it being triggered in the Senedd/Assembly; the absence of such a requirement in other legislatures in the UK or Ireland; and that the current provision has been in place since before the formal separation of the executive and the legislature in 2007.

The Business Committee agreed to defer a final decision in respect of recommendation 2 (declarations of interest at the point of tabling) until it had received a response to its letter to the Standards of Conduct Committee seeking  assurances that the guidance on declarations of interest would address the application of the requirement to Members who were tabling business on behalf of others (such as Business Managers tabling on behalf of their political group, the Trefnydd tabling on behalf of the government, or committee chairs tabling on behalf of their committee).

The Business Committee considered an additional note regarding matters raised at the previous meeting and agreed to return to further consideration of the recommendations made by the Standards of Conduct Committee at its meeting on Thursday 29 January, following consultation with groups.

The Business Committee agreed to write to the Standards of Conduct Committee in order to request that its proposed revisions to the guidance relating to declaring interests (the ‘test of relevance’) should cite Business Managers or the Trefnydd, when tabling on behalf of their group or the government, as an example of where it could not normally be reasonably thought that a personal interest had influenced their decision to do so.

The Business Committee considered a paper containing an analysis of recommendations made to the Business Committee by the Standards of Conduct Committee as party of its report of its Inquiry into Registration and Declaration of Interests: Declarations of Interests.

Business Managers agreed to discuss the recommendations with their political groups and return to further consideration at the Business Committee meeting on 29 January.

In relation to recommendation 2 of that report, the Business Committee requested a note providing further information on the implications of what is recommended for motions being tabled by Business Managers on behalf of their political group. The Trefnydd noted that practice varies between Members when orally declaring interests during proceedings and suggested that the requirement should be clarified within guidance.

The Deputy Presiding Officer introduced a proposal for the establishment of a new committee to consider future ways of working and preparations for the Seventh Senedd.

Business Committee agreed in principle to propose to the Senedd that a committee should be established, with the following arrangements:

o   the committee should be chaired by the Deputy Presiding Officer in a non-voting capacity (except in the case of the casting vote being needed);

o   the committee should have four members (two representing Welsh Labour, one representing the Welsh Conservatives, and one representing Plaid Cymru);

o   of the two spaces allocated to the Welsh Labour group, one should be filled by a member of the government, and one by a backbench member, representing the Labour group;

o   the chair of the committee can consider inviting Jane Dodds MS and Rhys ab Owen MS to participate in the work of the committee in accordance with SO 17.49, or to provide evidence to inform that work;

o   the chair of the committee to consider arrangements for enabling each member of the committee to have one person to attend meetings of the committee in a supporting capacity.

Business Managers expressed in principle support for possible broad areas to be included within the committee’s remit and for this to be developed further as part of a motion to the Senedd.