Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of 16 March were agreed.

Commissioners considered a proposal that a Supplementary Budget should be laid, to reduce the Commission’s 2020-21 budget from £61.411 million to £59.575 million.

This was to reflect the announcement by HM Treasury that the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 16 – Leases is to be delayed for 12 months until 1 April 2021. This does not alter the Commission’s 2020-21 cash requirement of £56.075 million.

Commissioners agreed to submit an Explanatory Memorandum (Appendix one), to reflect the announcement by HM Treasury, and noted the change to the scrutiny timetable associated with the Welsh Government budget timetable. The Explanatory Memorandum would be laid in the usual way.

Commissioners were provided with a summary of the approach, decisions and actions taken by the Commission to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to maintain essential parliamentary activity whilst keeping Members, staff and the public safe.

They also noted a summary of decisions taken by the Remuneration Board to date on Covid-19 response.

Commissioners discussed the delivery to date and thanked all the staff involved in the background work to enable the continuation of parliamentary business. They followed this with a wider discussion about the period ahead, considering the relationship between decisions made by Business Committee about business and resources provided to support those activities. The recognised the demands placed on particular teams by remote working and the importance of resilience and robust approaches to delivery.

Commissioners asked to be kept abreast of developments in planning for next steps.

Commissioners were provided with an update just ahead of the name change implementation date.

Commissioners had considered a draft of the Commission’s annual report and accounts covering 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, in order to comment ahead of the report being finalised.

Commissioners welcomed the work to date and recognised that there would be additional updates to reflect recent events. They also suggested including a forward look section.

The report will be laid and published online following final approval in June.

Commissioners noted the routine summary of recruitment decisions provided to each Commission meeting.

Commissioners considered the timing for future meetings if the pattern of Business Committee meetings continues.

In the period since the last meeting Commissioners had taken three urgent decisions.

These related to the broadcasting of plenary and committee meetings and extending the period for which public engagement activities will not take place.

Additional briefing had also been provided to clarify the additional resource to support the strategic priority of engagement.