Agenda and minutes

The Llywydd welcomed Members to the meeting. Apologies were received from Jane Dodds MS.

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

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 Committee considered the paper and agreed:

·       To propose the changes to Standing Orders 26.6, 26A.13, 26B.9 and 26C.9, and an associated change to the interpretation section, to require the Member in charge of a Bill to set out in the explanatory memorandum the reasons why he or she is satisfied that the Bill is compatible with the Convention rights;

·       not to propose changes to the explanatory memorandum requirements in Standing Orders SOs 26, 26A, 26B and 26C in respect of any implications of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 on the effectiveness of the relevant Bill’s provisions, should it be enacted; but to recommend that the Seventh Senedd Business Committee keeps this matter under review.

The Committee considered and agreed the draft Standing Orders report.

The Committee considered and agreed the draft Standing Orders report.