Minutes

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Contact: Aled Elwyn Jones 

Items
No. Item

1.

Introductions, apologies and substitutions

Minutes:

The Leader of the House sent her apologies, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance attended in her place.

 

Paul Davies sent his apologies, Andrew RT Davies attended in his place.

2.

Minutes of the previous meeting

Minutes:

The minutes for the meeting were agreed by the Committee for publication.

3.

Organisation of Business

3.1

This Week's Business

Minutes:

Tuesday

 

·         Voting Time will take place after the last item of business.

 

Wednesday

 

·         Voting Time will take place before the Short Debate.

3.2

Three Week Timetable of Government Business

Minutes:

Business Committee noted the 3 Week Timetable of Government Business.

 

Business Managers noted a change to the OAQ schedule for March 2018; the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport will now answer questions on 7th March and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services on 14th March.  This is due to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport being abroad during his allocated slot.  The online timetable has been amended accordingly.

3.3

Three Week Timetable of Assembly Business

Minutes:

Business Committee determined the organisation of Assembly business and agreed to schedule the following items of business:

 

Wednesday 7 February 2018

·         Assembly Commission Motion: Consultation on Assembly Reform (30 mins)

Wednesday 14 February 2018 –

·         Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv) (60 mins)

·         Debate on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee's report into loneliness and isolation (60 mins)

·         Time allocated to the Welsh Conservatives (60 mins)

3.4

Member Debates: Selection of Motion for Debate

Minutes:

·         Business Managers selected a motion for debate on 31 January:

NNDM6626

Mick Antoniw

Sian Gwenllian

David Melding

David Rees

 

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Recognises that leasehold residential contracts continue to represent a significant proportion of new build properties in Wales; and

a) that leasehold residential contracts are often offered on disadvantageous terms, resulting in detriment to the home-owner; and

b) that leasehold home-owners have little protection from unreasonable fees and unreasonable delays when buying, selling or improving their property.

2. Notes the UK Government's proposed ban on the sale of new-build leasehold properties in England.

3. Believes that the Welsh Government should take action to protect future home-owners by abolishing leasehold residential contracts in Wales.

 

·         Business Managers agreed to schedule the next Member Debate on 14 February, and selected the following motion:

NNDM6635

Dai Lloyd

Mike Hedges

David Melding

Nick Ramsay

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes the number of roads in Wales which are unadopted, and are therefore not maintained by the relevant local authority.

2. Notes that a number of developers have not built roads on new estates to adoptable standards.

3. Recognises that there are weaknesses in the house-buying process, which does not always ensure that buyers have sufficient financial retentions in place to bring these roads up to the local authority's adoptable standard.

4. Recognises that house buyers are often faced with having to invest significant sums of money in order to bring roads up to the local authority's adoptable standard.

5. Notes that many of these roads remain unadopted and in a bad state of repair, for a number of years, sometimes in perpetuity.

6. Calls on the Welsh Government to establish a taskforce, to include local authorities, the legal profession, developers and other key stakeholders, with a view to developing improvements to the house buying and road adoption process.

7. Seeks to develop a Wales-wide programme to deliver a reduction in the number of unadopted roads in Wales.

4.

Legislation

4.1

Letter from the Chair of HSCS: Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Bill

Minutes:

Business Managers considered the HSCS Committee’s request for an extension of the Stage 1 reporting deadline to 9 March 2018 and a consequential extension of the Stage 2 deadline. The Welsh Government proposed an extension to 2 March instead, on the grounds that otherwise the Stage 1 debate (which needed to be completed before the Principal Appointed Day) could only take place in the last week of term, which was an unacceptable level of risk in their view.

Business Managers agreed to ask the Committee to consider the Government’s proposal. If the Committee agreed, Business Committee would confirm the extension out of committee; if the Committee did not agree, Business Committee would return to the matter at the next meeting.

5.1

Letter from the Chair of CLA: LCMs

Minutes:

Business Managers agreed the request to refer all future LCMs to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for consideration, in addition to any other relevant committees.