National Assembly to meet in the north ‘to engage all the people of Wales with its work’
The National Assembly for Wales is planning to move to the north of Wales for a week later this year.
It will be part of what an Assembly spokesperson called “an on-going programme to engage the people of Wales with its work”.
The Assembly Commission – the panel of Assembly Members that runs the Assembly – agreed to meet in the north later this summer. Discussions with Welsh Government and other partners are on-going.
The Llywydd, Elin Jones AM, said that they wanted to bring the work of the Senedd to more of the people of Wales.
“Engaging all the people of Wales in the work of the Assembly is one of our key priorities – that’s why I’m excited that we’re making preparations to take the Senedd north later this year,” she said.
“Initial discussions with the Welsh Government and Commissioners have been supportive, and we’re now working on the detail of what the week looks like.
“This initiative builds on the Assembly’s programme to involve and engage with all the people of Wales. For the last few years, we’ve run regular Senedd@ weeks in Swansea, Newport, Wrexham, Mold and Aberystwyth, where committees and engagement work have focused on a particular town.
“Last year, we held a Citizen’s Assembly to look at how we engage with people. We also have a regular programme of education and engagement activity across Wales. This is an exciting new venture to see how we can bring the work of the Assembly to more of the people of Wales so their voice can be heard.”
‘Excited’
The Commission has agreed to invest in engagement work, and staff have been asked to consider costs and ensure value for money.
Ein Jones added: “Meeting in the north will create new opportunities for people to attend and participate in the work of the Senedd. I am excited by the possibilities that are opening up.”
Next week, the Assembly’s Business Committee will consider an outline business programme for the week, and further details will be announced in due course.
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A welcome start. In the long term, we need to be looking to Machynlleth as our administrative centre.
Then Owain Glyndŵr had it right all along!
Absolutely, but I think we also need to pressure the government ( the Welsh one, to remove all doubt!) to investigate public funding for a Welsh based media. Norway provides public funding for the media as they have realised that an independent media is crucial in avoiding both democratic deficit and in holding public institutions to account. Wales is in an even worse predicament than the UK as a whole on this count, and that isn’t really something we should be proud of at all. But yes, maybe we should be having a discussion on the side within the wider… Read more »
Lies will be so many your grandchildren see Wales as foe. You will trust the vote result as your enemies count the votes. Cymru vanishes.
When national revival is our only cause. If the Cymry are strong enough to live it will last 3 centuries once it has begun. It has not begun.
It’s a timely move, and I think a positive one. But I suspect the maxim ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’ may be relevant!
‘Un wennol ni wna wanwyn’ in Welsh, is the poetic way to say it in cynghanedd. I’ve never understood, though, why it is ‘one swallow doesn’t make it spring’ this side of the dyke!
Good.
Wrexham? Mold? First I’ve heard of it. The problem is still that we do not have a serious politcs-based all-Wales media that will keep us informed of what takes place in the Cardiff Bay lean-to.
BHS still empty?
Still empty. No activity. Soon to be TK Max, I think.
R.I.P. BHS.
Bit of a conundrum this. On the one hand a more frequent circuit of the whole of Wales would be ideal say 3 venues in the North, 2 or 3 in Mid Wales ( Aber + SevernValley/Builth /LlandodW, and 2 in South say Swansea and Haverfordwest in addition to Cardiff Bay. However given the Cynulliad’s miserable performance I suspect that the response to such mobility would be quite lukewarm with most sane people preferring to see the A.M’s upping their game and then moving into circuit mode.
Might be worth bearing in mind the criticisms, on cost grounds, of the European Parliament migrating from Brussels to Strasbourg on a regular basis?
A week? Do it for 6 months and that will be a good start. It will also expose AMs who can’t/won’t be bothered to attend.
It’s not exactly a radical, new idea though. The German Kaisers of old spent their whole reign simply moving from one city to the next within their empire. This was done centuries ago. Mind, Welsh Labour hasn’t built up a reputation for innovation.
In those days they moved from place to place because they’d eaten and drunk up everything that the one location could provide ,,,
We should look seriously on a federal system of government here in Wales.
We could have states based either on local counties or on regions such as Glamorgan, Dyfed, Powys, NorthEast Wales, etc.
Those regions will have elected assemblies and (Along with local councils ? ) could send delegates to a 2nd chamber in Cardiff as part of the law making and accountability procedure. This seems to work well in other federal systems such as in Germany.
Centralisation of power is never a good thing which anyone can see is the problem with the UK/USSR/Yugoslavia, etc.
It isn’t the location of the Senedd that’s the problem, it’s the dismal, 3rd rate politicians within.
More gesture politics.
Politicians like the words “engage” or “engagement”. These appear 6 times in this short piece. The truth is that politicians fear real people. They can be so embarrassingly off-message! What will actually be in the “Business Programme” for the week? What concrete achievements came out of previous “Senedd@weeks”?
How about this then: the Senedd/WG turn up like Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to fix Betsi Cadwaladr and don’t depart till it’s job done. (Except that re NHS Wales, the Labour Party in Wales seem to prefer the public don’t realise that the buck stops with WG.)