23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Okay, thank you for that. I should, actually, re-correct myself, again. The rules, the Senedd rules, I was referring to—it is actually a Commission document. It's the 'Rules and Guidance on the Use of Senedd Resources', which actually bars party-political…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
So, if an opposition party, or whatever, decides, 'We want to do X on childcare', and the Government says, 'There's this policy, can you go away and analyse it?', there are no rules around protecting, abuse. So, actually, those costings, then, could be used…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
I'll jump in again. In relation to access talks, I remember them well in the run-up to the 2007—indirectly—but is a sitting Government allowed, for example, to commission an analysis by the civil service of the policies of an opposition party? The costings…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Yes.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Right, okay. Thank you.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Right. So, there are pieces of information that are now in the public domain that you weren't aware of, but they would have no bearing on your advice.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Can you in that factual information also tell the committee whether the results of that forensic analysis revealed IP addresses as part of the outcome of the inquiry? Can I just, then, return to the other matter that we've touched upon, which is the…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Can I ask you a further set of questions, then, given that you're not prepared to tell us whether a formal leak inquiry—? I take it, and I have to say that my assumption now is that you do have knowledge as to whether a formal leak inquiry has been…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
I'm afraid—I've checked the pre-election guidance; the pre-election guidance is about impartiality, and it actually places a duty upon you to provide factual answers to factual questions, so it goes in a different direction, I would contend. Is your evidence…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
It's a factual question. The answer is either you are aware that a formal leak inquiry was commissioned, or you are not aware. That is the question that I'm putting to you.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
My question is whether you're aware now.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
The three of you now—you're not aware at this point as to whether a formal leak inquiry was commissioned.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
I'd like to return, actually, to some of the matters that I've raised. I've had some time to consider some of the responses, and I'd like to save time, really, by not having to write to you all with a whole host of follow-up questions, so if we're able to…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Okay. That concludes my questions. Thank you very much.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
For clarity, I think it's a remuneration board policy, which I think the accounting officer of the Senedd is responsible for carrying out. It's not a Senedd Commission role. I speak as a Senedd Commissioner, so I should get that bit right, anyway.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Given the decision by the remuneration board in its determination that no Senedd resources, including the buildings themselves, can be used for party-political purposes, and that has been underlined on several occasions to party groups, how are political…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Physically, are they held always in Cathays Park? Are they sometimes held here, in this building?
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
How often are political Cabinets held? Are they regular?
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Finally, there is a reference in the UK Cabinet manual to political Cabinet meetings, which I'll sort of paraphrase or summarise here, but essentially meetings that are without officials, and the conclusions—the discussions are not necessarily minuted, and it…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
In providing the advice that you gave that was subsequently written up by a colleague, did you have all the information relevant to this case that is now in the public domain, for example the extent of the donations and the loan by the Development Bank of…
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
The decision to publish, is that a decision now—? It would've been a decision by the former First Minister, but it now falls to the First Minister himself to decide whether to publish that.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
But it hasn't so far been published.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Could I ask you, then, about your advice to the former First Minister that Vaughan Gething had not broken the ministerial code? That's in the public domain that such advice was provided. Was that advice provided by you in writing?
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
One would expect, though, as director of propriety and ethics, it would be fairly extraordinary if you were not aware whether a report had been produced on the ministerial code.
23 Mai 2024 , Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee
Sesiwn ar Lawlyfr y Cabinet a Thrafodaethau Mynediad
Let's ask a very focused factual question, then: was a report provided on any breach of the ministerial code by Hannah Blythyn?
