, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, you raise a good point. I'm very satisfied that those are matters within competence. We do have, of course, through the Equality Act 2010, I think it was section 10 that we specifically implemented within Wales, which gives responsibilities in terms of…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, my understanding would be that all those sorts of things would come in terms of the work of the commission. But, Michael, I don't know—. I have to say, I don't know what the answer to that is.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
There are overlaps. What I'd say is that each of the pieces of legislation—. I mean, firstly, we are confident that both pieces of legislation will go through. What the precise format—that it is ultimately determined by the voting within the Senedd itself…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
And we use the term 'resettlement payments'; to be honest, I suppose more coming from my legal background, I see it as almost a sort of redundancy payment, basically, and redundancy payments were established to actually provide that buffer for working people…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, yes. I mean, I think it comes down to, when people stand for representative office and so on, they're quite often giving up their career, they're quite often giving up their job, they will face additional challenges. Unlike in employment situations…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
They'll know it from the legislation. I think they will be aware of it; there will be engagement with them over this. Michael.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Okay. Well, it's not being abolished; I think it's being brought into the new commission that's being established. So, it will be there, but it will be part of that broader framework. It just seemed a more sensible and efficient way, that it is within there…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, the report we're asking councils to do each year is listed there—community names, community boundary changes, community council changes, community electoral arrangements and so on. So, that report is published and it goes to the commission and to the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
No, the main review is from 10 years to 12 years—there are specific reasons for that—but the issue of an annual report, which I think is what section 51, the section you're referring to, applies to, is really on the sort of minor changes and so on that might…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I do think there are very specific obligations on political parties to address that. They very much have mechanisms themselves where they're recognising to make those changes themselves. But, as I say, a lot of the issues raised are very much structural…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, there are a number of issues that arise from that. The first thing to say is that the Bill does include provision for arrangements to be put in place to remove barriers to participation. Of course, that really has to be evidence based. One of the issues…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
If I had a silver bullet, I think it would be an incredibly valuable one. What you're identifying are basically, I suppose, the items that are identified in section 28, which are some of the socioeconomic issues that are there as well that impact and those…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
What you're setting out there, I think, are parts of what has been a very long-term debate about the obstacles and difficulties that we have culturally, socially, economically and historically in our electoral systems as to why there tend to be fewer women…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think the details of what is available and what can be done are something that we have to give very, very careful thought to. I will ask Mike to come in in a minute really just with the experience of the last time when there were, I think, 26 specific…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I think, at this stage the answer is 'yes', that I am, because I think it is practicable and achievable and then, ultimately, measurable. And measurability is, I think, a very, very important factor. But what it doesn't exclude is that there are all…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Well, I mean, section 28 is a duty, so it's a duty to promote diversity, and it sets a framework for what it means by that in a fairly broad way. Section 29 is a very specific power—it's a specific power to actually provide finance. And I suppose the reality…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
No.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think it's about having that broader flexibility, because there are survey powers that the local authorities themselves have, and I think the lessons that you learn as you go along—there will be specific things that I think, looking at the overall Wales…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
You're right, the issues of disability, accessibility and so on are really quite fundamental to it, and there are two provisions within the Bill in particular, sections 28 and 29 of the Bill, one in respect of the duty to promote diversity, firstly in persons…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Again, really important points, and, again, a lot of consideration will been given to how that would work. We will work very closely with stakeholders as to how we address that. Of course, we do still have a significant part of the population who don't have…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
What you're identifying there I think are some of the real challenges in how you actually achieve this, because the responsibility for the statements obviously lies with the candidates and the agents, et cetera, who place the information on the platform. That…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
It certainly is a challenge, which is why it's work in progress. Do you want to update on the sort of work that is ongoing at the moment to try and create the mechanism for that to happen?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
We want it to happen.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
I think it's fair to say that there will need to be regulations around this. Clearly, it cannot be an open process to publish as much as you want. There will clearly have to be parameters as to how much information can be placed, the length of statements, the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill: Evidence from the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
Good questions. We want it to be in place for 2026, so we would hope that would be up and running then. And it will be interesting to see how that works and how that is evaluated, because it is a very new development in terms of the operation of our…
