Agenda and minutes

Following previous discussions Business Managers discussed the arrangements in relation to committees.

Committee Membership

Paul Davies and Simon Thomas agreed to the membership arrangements previously proposed by Jane Hutt, which provides for policy and legislation committees to be comprised of 4 Labour Members and 4 opposition Members, providing 4 of these committees are chaired by opposition Members.

Mark Reckless registered his objection to having committee memberships allocated in this way, as it did not reflect the political balance in the Assembly.  However, UKIP would be prepared to co-operate with the proposed approach.

It was confirmed that the interim membership of the Finance Committee was known for all parties except for Plaid Cymru.

In relation to the allocation of committee places to Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives, those parties asked for further information from the secretariat on possible options.

Committee Chairs

Business Managers confirmed that agreement had been reached on which political group would Chair which Committee.

Remits

The Committee considered and agreed the Business Committee report on remits of the policy and legislation committees.

Procedures for electing committee chairs

Following previous agreement on introducing a procedure for electing committee chairs Business Managers considered the arrangements for the election of chairs and agree the nominations should be taken in Plenary on Tuesday 28 Junes with the secret ballots taking place on Wednesday 29 June.  It was agreed the result of the ballots would be announced at the end of Plenary on Wednesday 29 June. 

Business Manages asked to see the guidance on the election of committee chairs, prior to it being issued to all Members and it was agreed it should be issued to all Members by the end of Plenary on Wednesday 22 June.

The Assembly Timetable

Business Managers considered the paper which provided options for reforming the Assembly timetable.

Business Managers were in general agreement that Plenary meetings should not happen on a Thursday afternoon, and that Monday afternoons should be utilised as a formal committee slot.

Business Managers recognised they needed to reconsider the slot allocated to Business Committee meetings, and agreed to consider the paper with groups and return to the timetable issues at a later meetings.

Business Managers noted the letter.