Meetings

Members noted the paper.

Members considered the paper and agreed the proposals in Annex A - petitions for referral to the Seventh Senedd, and Annex B – petitions for closing, with the exception of Petitions P-06-1510 and P-06-1291 which were already closed earlier in the meeting.

Additionally Members noted there were currently 20 petitions over the threshold for consideration by the Seventh Senedd, including three that had reached the threshold for a successor committee to consider whether to request a debate.

The final draft of the legacy report was agreed for publication prior to dissolution, subject to some minor amendments. It was hoped that Members of the next Senedd would take on board the points made in the report about ways of working.

The Committee considered its Forward work programme.

Members considered the paper and agreed to:

a) write to the Business Committee with some proposed changes to Standing Order 23 for that Committee to consider - relating to the status of the committee as dedicated to considering petitions, and to clarify the process of consideration of petitions;

b) propose some minor amendments to the Presiding Officer’s Determination on the Proper Form of Public Petitions for clarity, in particular in relation to the inadmissibility of petitions on planning consents for Developments of National Significance (DNS);

c) note that the current thresholds for consideration and debate remained appropriate;

c) note the published responses to its targeted consultation on the future petitions process and issues raised by respondents, including the suggestion that a successor committee might wish to hold thematic inquiries on particular topics with a number of related petitions;

d) take a similar approach to the transition of petitions between the Sixth and Seventh Seneddau as that adopted between the Fifth and Sixth Seneddau. This would include the suspension of signatures on open petitions during the pre-election period, and a review of all petitions under consideration before dissolution to decide further actions, including whether to close or to refer on to the Seventh Senedd; and

e) note some issues discussed would be noted in the committee’s legacy report, for consideration by the Seventh Senedd.

Members noted the paper and agreed to write to the Welsh Government to seek an update on implementing recommendations accepted in the predecessor Petitions Committee’s report on petition P-05-784 Prescription drug dependence and withdrawal - recognition and support.

The Committee considered a decision paper on actions to take as part of reviewing the public petitions process in advance of the Seventh Senedd. It was agreed that a targeted consultation would be undertaken over the summer recess, to seek the views of key organisations and representative bodies in Wales who are regularly called on to respond to petitions.

Members discussed a paper on work programme priorities for the remainder of the Sixth Senedd, including: focus of further inquiry work in the time available; reviewing Standing Order provisions for the petitions process in advance of the Seventh Senedd; public engagement issues; and legacy reporting. Members shared their views and agreed to consider a further options paper at a future meeting.

The Committee discussed its forward work programme for the remainder of the autumn term. Members agreed to return to a discussion of future strategic priorities with a new Chair and membership.

The Committee agreed to consider a scoping paper at a future meeting on further work on the petition ‘Ban smartphones in all schools in Wales (with exemptions for exceptional circumstances)’.

The Committee discussed its plans for the summer recess, including the publication of its Annual Report and visibility at the National Eisteddfod.

The Committee agreed the draft report subject to minor changes.

Carole Stewart, Transport Scotland

Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT)

The Committee heard evidence from Carole Stewart and Gillian Kelly from Transport Scotland and Paul White from Confederation of Passenger Transport Scotland.

The Committee discussed the evidence heard.

The Petitions Committee is  undertaking a short piece of work looking at free public transport for young people. This is in response to a number of petitions around this issue. 

In order to inform this work we have invited experts to a roundtable event on the issue. This will allow the Committee to better understand the opportunities and barriers.

The Committee heard research findings about the barriers to engagement with parliaments from Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira.

The Committee considered its forward work programme.

The Committee discussed their forward work plan for the Autumn term.

Daf ap Moris gave an overview on the analysis of petitions data.

The committee considered their forward work programme.

The Committee considered the forward work programme.

The Committee discussed the recent work undertaken on the Petition of the year.

The Committee considered its forward work programme.

The Committee reflected on their work this year and discussed the next steps for the Autumn term.

Members considered the current committee timetable and highlighted their preference for moving forward.  

After considering all the data, and the recommendation of the predecessor committee, Members agreed that a change in signature threshold for a petition to be considered by the Committee was justified, and that this should be changed to 250 signatures. Members also agreed to seek to make this change in threshold by the start of the New Year in January 2022. The Chair will write to Business Committee recommending the relevant change to Standing Order 23.4(i)

The Committee considered the forward work programme and agreed to invite witnesses to give evidence in relation to petition P-06-1224 Design a ‘Care Leavers Plus’ Universal Basic Income pilot that includes a range of people. Evidence sessions will take place on 15 and 29 November.

The Committee considered the evidence presented and agreed to return to the issue, requesting a paper on this issue that looks in more detail at the implications of changing the signature threshold by the next meeting.

The Committee considered how it wished to approach its Forward Work Programme and agreed it would request to meet in person for its next meeting on 4 October.

The Committee also agreed to return to the issue of signature thresholds at the next meeting.

The Committee considered how it wished to approach its Forward Work Programme and asked the clerking team to prepare a formal paper setting out options for conducting further detailed work on a range of future petitions.

The Committee agreed to seek permission to move its Monday morning slot to a Monday afternoon in anticipation of in-person meetings resuming.

The Committee noted the report.

The Committee considered how it wished to approach its remit and agreed:

·         to focus on high level issues where the Committee may be able to shape Government policy; and

·         to undertake outreach and engagement work once it is safe to do so.

The Committee considered its procedures and ways of working and agreed to write to Business Committee to inform it of its decision to maintain the current thresholds:

·         requiring 50 signatures for the Committee to consider the petition; and

·         requiring 10,000 signatures before the Committee considers seeking a Senedd debate on the petition.

The Committee agreed to review these thresholds in due course to ensure they remain appropriate.

Members noted the Committee’s remit and responsibilities.