National Assembly for Wales
Annual Report and Statement of Accounts of the Assembly Commission: 2007-08
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2. New Powers: New Assembly
- The Assembly Commission, Commissioners and the Strategy
- The Siambr
- Assembly Legislation
- Members' Research Service
- Assembly Committees
The Assembly Commission, Commissioners and the Strategy.
In May 2007, the Assembly Commission was established, as a body corporate, under the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Commission is responsible for ensuring that the Assembly is provided with the property, staff and services required for the Assembly’s purposes.
Membership
The Government of Wales Act provides that members of the Assembly Commission are the Presiding Officer, and four other Assembly Members nominated by the main political parties:
- Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Presiding Officer, Chair of the Assembly Commission
- Lorraine Barrett (Labour)
- Peter Black (Liberal Democrats)
- William Graham (Conservatives)
- Elin Jones (Plaid Cymru) – until July 2007
- Chris Franks (Plaid Cymru) from September 2007
Broadly, the role of the Commission is to set strategic aims and objectives and consider performance, agree standards and values, oversee change, encourage innovation and enterprise to enhance our capacity to deliver and to take part in the process of risk and performance management. The five Commissioners are accountable to the National Assembly for the Commission’s functions.
To help with the delivery of these functions the Commissioners agreed cross cutting portfolios across the spectrum of the National Assembly for Wales’ work. This enabled a great deal of work to take place outside of formal Commission meetings and positive working relationships to be developed with our staff. The portfolios of each commissioner are detailed below:
Chair of the Commission and has special responsibility for promoting democratic engagement, excellent leadership, developing the Assembly’s future legislative powers and external relations. The Presiding Officer has taken strategic leadership in the development of our legislative powers and relations with the media.
Lorraine Barrett (Labour)
Commissioner for the Sustainable Assembly - This portfolio includes responsibility for equality; language; environment and carbon neutrality; sustainable procurement and estate management. Lorraine has become the Commission’s representative on the Pierhead project which is looking at its future as a conference, visitor and exhibition centre and taken an active interest in estate management and our environmental impact.
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Peter Black (Welsh Liberal Democrats)
Commissioner for the Assembly and the Citizen -This portfolio includes looking at the quality of scrutiny and the legislative process; external communication; ICT; citizenship education; lawfulness. In Peter’s role as Commissioner he has addressed a number of items including looking at the development of E-petitions and addressing some ICT issues.
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Chris Franks (Plaid Cymru)
Commissioner for the Improving Assembly - This portfolio includes looking at improving services to Members and citizens; involving stakeholders; strategic planning; and considering value for money. Chris Franks has played an active part in the development of our Member Satisfaction Survey which will be taken forward during the next year.
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William Graham (Welsh Conservative Party)
Commissioner for Assembly Resources - This portfolio includes considering the management of Assembly assets; Assembly people (including employees, contractors, services provided to support AMSS); budget; Members’ salaries and allowances; efficiency and good governance. William Graham was the representative for the Commission on the first review panel looking at Members’ pay and support, as well as being the Commission’s member on the Corporate Governance Committee.
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The Assembly Commission remains accountable to the Assembly through correspondence and through oral and written questions tabled by Assembly Members for answer in the full meeting of the Assembly. Each Commissioner responded to oral questions in full meetings of the Assembly on a rotational basis during the year. The Commission is also held to account through scrutiny by the Assembly Committees such as Finance, Audit and Equality of Opportunity. Meeting papers are published on our website and can be found here.
Strategy for the Third Assembly (2007-2011)
The Commission’s ambition is for the National Assembly for Wales to become an accessible and effective parliamentary body that inspires the confidence of the people of Wales. In order to achieve this aim and prepare for the challenges and opportunities before us, the Assembly Commission developed a strategy document setting out our vision and goals for the third Assembly:
- We will promote and widen engagement in devolution
- We will show unity, leadership, and a bold response to constitutional change
- In all our work, we will demonstrate respect, probity and good governance
- We will work sustainably
- We will ensure that the Assembly has the best service, provided in the most effective way
You will see that the strategy sets out our values which will demonstrate our shared commitment to succeed by building strong relationships and leading by example. We will always act in the best interest of the Assembly with high standard delivery while being professional, innovative and respectful of others. To ensure our goals are delivered, there is a direct link between the strategy and our service planning framework.
