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The National Assembly for Wales (NAW or NAfW) () is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The assembly building, known as the Senedd (the Welsh word for parliament or senate), was opened in March 2006 by the Queen. The Assembly was formed under the Government of Wales Act 1998, by the Labour government, following a referendum in 1997. The campaign for a 'yes' vote in the referendum was supported by the Labour Party, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and much of Welsh civic society, such as church groups and the trade union movement. The Conservative Party was the only major political party in Wales to oppose devolution. The election in 2003 produced an assembly in which half of the assembly seats were held by women. This is though to be the first time elections to a legislature have produced equal representation for women. Following the Blaenau Gwent by-election in 2006 the Assembly composition is 29 men to 31 women, giving women a majority. History The establishment of the Welsh Office in 1964 effectively created the basis for the territorial governance of Wales. Welsh voters rejected the proposals by a majority of four to one in a referendum held in 1979. The current Assembly was established following a referendum on 18 September 1997. Powers and status The National Assembly consists of 60 elected members, they use the title Assembly Member (AM) or Aelod y Cynulliad (AC). The Assembly is run by the Welsh Assembly Government, led by First Minister, Rhodri Morgan. The executive and civil servants are based in Cardiff's Cathays Park while the Assembly Members, the Assembly Parliamentary Service and Ministerial support staff are based in Cardiff Bay where a new £67 million Assembly Building, known as the Senedd, has recently been built. One important feature of the National Assembly is that there is no legal or constitutional separation of the legislative and executive functions, since it is a single corporate entity. Even compared with other parliamentary systems, and other UK devolved countries, this is highly unusual. In reality however there is some sort of day to day separation, and the terms "Assembly Government" and "Assembly Parliamentary Service" have been used to distinguish between the two arms. It is proposed to regularise the separation, and it is considered likely that the UK Parliament will pass the necessary legislation. Although the Assembly is a legislature, it currently does not have primary legislative or fiscal powers, as these powers had been reserved by Westminster. However, the position is set to change when the Government of Wales Act 2006 comes into force. The current legislative powers of the Assembly are therefore more limited than most other sub-sovereign state legislatures, such as the Scottish Parliament in the UK or state legislatures in the United States. The Assembly does have powers to pass secondary legislation in devolved areas. Sometimes secondary legislation can be used to amend primary legislation, however the scope of this up to now has been very limited; for example, the Government of Wales Act gave the Assembly power to amend primary legislation relating to the merger of certain public bodies. It is important to note that most secondary powers were conferred on the executive by primary legislation to give the executive, (i.e., Ministers) more powers. By inheriting these powers from ministers, the Assembly has sometimes surprisingly wider legislative powers than appearances would suggest. For example: The Assembly delayed local elections due to be held in 2003 for a year by use of secondary powers, so that they would not correspond with Assembly elections. (In 2001 the UK parliament used primary legislation to delay for one month local elections in England during the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic). Whilst in theory the Assembly has no tax varying powers, the Assembly in reality has some very limited power over taxes. For example, in Wales, as in England, the rate of Council Tax is set by local authorities, however since the Assembly largely determines the level of grants to local councils, it can influence the level of local taxation indirectly. In terms of charges for government services it also has some discretion. Notable examples where this discretion has been used and varies significantly to other areas in the UK include:- This model of more limited legislative powers is partly because Wales has had the same legal system as England since 1536, when it was annexed by England. Ireland and Scotland were never annexed by England, and so always retained some distinct differences in their legal systems. The Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly, (when it isn't suspended) have deeper and wider powers. The Assembly inherited the powers and budget of the Secretary of State for Wales and most of the functions of the Welsh Office. It has power to vary laws passed by Westminster using secondary legislation. Peter Hain, whose principal UK cabinet role is as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and who represents a Welsh constituency in the Westminster Parliament, retains a vestigial role as Secretary of State for Wales. Richard Commission Some Plaid Cymru (the Welsh national party) politicians had argued that its powers were limited and confusing.Plaid calls for referendum on full Welsh parliament by Matthew Tempest: The Guardian, 2 August 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2006. In July 2002, the Welsh Assembly Government established an independent commission, with Lord Richard (former leader of the House of Lords) as chair, to review the powers and electoral arrangements of the National Assembly in order to ensure that it is able to operate in the best interests of the people of Wales. The Richard Commission. Richard Commission Website, includes copy of Commission report. Retrieved 9 December 2005 The Richard Commission reported in March 2004. It recommended that the National Assembly should have powers to legislate in certain areas, whilst others would remain the preserve of Westminster. It also recommended changing the electoral system to the single transferable vote (STV) which would produce greater proportionality. Even though the Commission included a member of all 4 main parties, and reported unanimously in favour of legislative powers the UK government refused. In the White Paper, Better Government for Wales, published on 15 June 2005, the UK Government rejected Richard's recommendation to change the electoral system, whilst proposing a half-way house between the status quo and the National Assembly having full Scottish Parliament-style legislative powers. Better Governance for Wales White Paper. Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Wales in June 2005. Downloadable PDF. Retrieved 9 December 2005Electoral Reform for Wales. Electoral Reform Society response to rejection of Richard Commission recommendations. Retrieved 9 December 2005. The Government of Wales Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 25th July 2006. Publicly it was stated that the lack of full legislative powers in the Bill was due to lack of support in Wales, although recent polls suggest that a large majority of the Welsh supported full legislative powers. It is commonly believed that the Bill is a compromise between the pro-devolution Labour AM's and the anti-devolution Welsh Labour MP's, who feared that their number would be culled if the Assembly became a Parliament. The Act will create a Welsh Assembly Government as a separate legal entity from 1st May 2007, and not (as at present) a committee of the Assembly.Government of Wales Act 2006 UK Government Website. Retrieved 23 August 2006. Enhanced powers: the Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Bill was presented to the UK parliament and published on December 8 2005. It confers on the Assembly legislative powers akin to other devolved legislatures, although Assembly laws will be subject to the veto of the UK Secretary of State for Wales, House of Commons or House of Lords. The Bill contains provision to reform the assembly to a parliamentary-type structure, establishing the Assembly Government as an entity separate from, but accountable to the National Assembly. It will also enable the Assembly to legislate within its devolved fields as specified in schedule 5 of the Bill. Members of the UK Parliament will retain the power to veto Assembly laws (to be known as Assembly Measures). The bill also reforms the Assembly's electoral system. It will prevent individuals from standing as candidates in both constituency and regional seats. This aspect of the bill has been subject to a great deal of criticism, most notably by the UK Electoral Commission. The bill has been heavily criticised. Plaid Cymru, the Official Opposition in the National Assembly, has attacked the bill for not delivering a fully-fledged Parliament. Many commentators have also criticised the Labour Party's allegedly partisan attempt to alter the electoral system. By preventing regional Assembly Members from standing in constituency seats the party has been accused of changing the rules to protect constituency representatives. Labour has 29 members in the Assembly all of whom hold constituency seats. The Bill received Royal Assent on 25th July 2006 as the Government of Wales Act 2006. Changes to the Assembly's powers are expected to be in place by May 2007. Official Opposition party in the Welsh Assembly The Official Opposition party in the National Assembly is Plaid Cymru - (English: The Party of Wales). The party's leader is Ieuan Wyn Jones. Ministers The First Minister is Rhodri Morgan. There are 8 other Cabinet members (Ministers): Minister for Finance, Local Government and Public Services: Sue Essex Minister for Assembly Business, Minister for Equalities and Minister for Children: Jane Hutt Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration: Edwina Hart Minister for Health & Social Services: Brian Gibbons Minister for Enterprise, Innovation & Networks: Andrew Davies Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning & Skills: Jane Davidson Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside: Carwyn Jones Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport: Alun Pugh Permanent Secretary The Permanent Secretary is Sir Jon Shortridge. He and other civil servants support the Assembly Cabinet. Presiding Officers The Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the National Assembly for Wales is Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas AM. His Deputy is Dr. John Marek AM. Electoral system Under mixed member proportional representation a type of additional member systemMixed-Member Proportional Voting in PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION VOTING SYSTEMS, Types of Voting Systems: PR Library created by Professor Douglas J. Amy, Department of Politics, Mount Holyoke College. Retrieved 8 July 2006.Electing the Welsh Assembly: Electoral Reform Society, information regarding Additional member system elections. Retrieved 9 December 2005. 40 of the AMs are elected from single-member constituencies on a plurality voting system (or first past the post) basis, the constituencies being equivalent to those used for the House of Commons and 20 AMs are elected from regional closed lists (rather than Open lists) using an alternative party vote.The Welsh electoral system: BBC News, 7 June 1999. Retrieved 7 July 2006. There are five regions Mid and West Wales, North Wales, South Wales Central, South Wales East and South Wales West (these are the same as the pre 1999 European Parliament constituencies for Wales), each of which returns four members. The additional members produce a degree of proportionality within each region. Whereas voters can choose any regional party list irrespective of their party vote in the constituency election, list AMs are not elected independently of the constituency element, rather elected constituency AMs are deemed to be pre-elected list representatives for the purposes of calculating remainders in the d'Hondt method. Overall proportionality is limited by the low proportion of list members (33% of the Assembly compared to 43% in the Scottish Parliament and 50% in the German Bundestag) and the regionalisation of the list element.Chapter 12: The Electoral Arrangements of the Report of the Richard Commission: Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales.. PDF document. Retrieved 8 July 2006. Consequently the Assembly as a whole has a greater degree of proportionality (based on proportions in the list elections) than the plurality voting system used for UK parliamentary elections, but still deviates somewhat from proportionality. The Single Transferable Vote system had been considered for the Assembly by the Labour Party as early as 1995-96, but according to the evidence given to the Richard Commission by Ron Davies, a former Welsh Secretary Had we done that of course we would have had to have had a Boundary Commission and that process would have taken forever and a day and that would have frustrated our overall political timetable. So we had to settle on the existing constituency arrangements, parliamentary constituencies and European Constituencies. To date there have been two elections to the Assembly, in 1999 and 2003. Composition of the Assembly (Plaid Cymru changed their party colour from green to yellow on February 27, 2006.) The election in 2003 produced an assembly in which half of the assembly seats were held by women. This is though to be the first time elections to a legislature have produced equal representation for women. Following the Blaenau Gwent by-election in 2006 the Assembly composition is 29 men to 31 women, giving women a majority, this was reported as another first, though the Basque Parliament elected a legislature with greater female representation (38:37) in March 2005. Basque Parliamentary elections use a closed party list system, and a law now compells parties to include equal gender representation on the lists. Several parties put women at the head of their lists.World first as Trish Law takes Assembly seat by Martin Shipton, Western Mail, 5 July 2006. Retrieved 10 August 2006. In Spanish.El Parlamento Vasco, compuesto por primera vez por más mujeres: Elecciones Vascas 2005. 18-04-2005. Retrieved 22 October 2006. Internships for US Students The National Assembly for Wales has a partnership with Ohio University and Swansea University. Through an internship program, US undergraduates have the opportunity to intern with Assembly Members and support staff at the Cardiff Bay location. Interns live and work in Cardiff for roughly 3 months, they receive academic credit while gaining experience in a national government setting. See also | |||||||
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