Agenda item

·                     Commissioners were provided with an assessment of the impact of the Welsh Government’s Welsh General Election (Coronavirus) Bill (“the Bill”) on the Senedd Commission. These related particularly to the Bill’s provisions to shorten the dissolution period, to extend the power to vary the date of the election and to extend the period within which the Senedd must hold its first meeting after the poll.

·                     Commissioners considered key decisions as preparation for the Bill’s potential enactment. These related predominantly to an election period which would be comprised 7 April – 28 April (‘pre-dissolution’) and 29 April – 5 May (the shortened dissolution period). During this period, strict spending restrictions will apply to all candidates under electoral law.

2.            Commissioners noted that there should be a level playing field for all candidates during the election period, as far as possible, to ensure a fair election and equality of opportunity for all; and that as the Bill would create an unusual circumstance, additional Rules and guidance would need to be issued relating to the election period.

3.            Commissioners agreed the principle that, during the pre-dissolution period, Members should only be provided with those resources necessary to carry out Senedd business related to the purpose of shortening dissolution as expressed in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill; that is:

·         to be able to fix a date for the poll for the election if there is a need to postpone the election for a reason relating to coronavirus; and

·         to enable the current Senedd to respond, if required to do so, to the unfolding public health issues leading up to the election.

·                     To implement the principle, Commissioners agreed that:

a)    for the election period (dissolution and pre-dissolution combined), each Member may retain access to their existing ICT profiles. These profiles would be restricted to remove access to social media, webmail accounts and intranet (dissolution intranet will still be available). In addition, each MS may nominate one of their staff to similarly retain their current profile with restrictions to enable support to be available in the event of a Senedd recall (this could be comprised of part-time staff to make up to 1 FTE, but must include the support staff’s full contracted hours which combined may not exceed 1 FTE). The support staff nominated may not themselves be a candidate. These provisions would be in addition to the current provision of up to 4 temporary ICT profiles per Member nominated for individuals. Robust reminders were to be issued to Members of their responsibilities to ensure their accounts are used in such a way that protects them from risk of complaint or a complaint being upheld;

b)    access to the Senedd estate will be restricted from 7 April, but that Members and their staff would have their building passes disabled rather than returning them. In the event of a recall, passes would be reactivated;

c)    Members and their staff should pack up their offices by the 6 April, within the requirements of Covid regulations, removing personal items as much as possible and schedule this ahead of the election period to allow for social distancing of individuals involved.

d)    Senedd support for casework during the election period would be restricted in line with dissolution arrangements. The Research Service will continue to publish useful information to the web, which would then be available to any Member and candidate. Members and their staff may not submit any requests to the Research Service, Legal and Translation Services after the start of the election period;

e)    access to public funds for engagement activities including for surgery notices, central printing and postal services be withdrawn during the election period; and

f)     Mobile phones / SIM cards used to facilitate homeworking during lockdown may be retained for allowed purposes during dissolution, where home working continues, and will not be subject to hire charges or the need to return the item to the Commission for the dissolution period.

·                     Commissioners deferred a decision on whether the offer of office hire for personal use, which their discretion could apply only to the shortened dissolution, should be withdrawn. They agreed to flag the matter to their groups and that it would be helpful to understand the position of the Remuneration Board with regard to any personal use of local offices during the pre-dissolution period.

As a contingency, in the event that the Bill were not to be agreed by the Senedd, Commissioners agreed to maintain the June decision relating to ICT provision and agreed to the use of mobile phones provided for homeworking in line with the similar decision set out above.