Innovating Democracy Advisory Group: 23 October 2025
Summary of the Innovating Democracy Advisory Group meeting held on 23 October 2025.
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In this page
Attendees
IDAG members
- Anwen Elias (Chair)
- Sarah Allan
- Jess Blair
- Mike Corcoran
- Tomos Dafydd Davies
- Sally Holland
- Yvonne Murphy
- Diana Stirbu
- Daisy Thomson
- Leanne Wood
Apologies
- Mo Alamgir
- Julie Sangani
Non-IDAG members
- Item 2: Senedd Commission officials, representatives Electoral Commission representatives, The Politics Project representatives
- Item 4: former members of the Expert Panel to the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales
Item 1: Welcome and note of previous meeting
1. The note of the meeting of 4 September was accepted as a true record. Members agreed with the use of Copilot in this meeting to aid note taking.
2. A follow up paper on the Curriculum for Wales had been circulated.
Item 2: Roundtable discussion: democratic education in formal education
3. The group discussed the challenges delivering democratic education within school environments. Challenges include teacher confidence, family engagement in democracy, misinformation and disinformation, gaps in knowledge about Welsh political institutions and economic barriers, which can lead to inconsistent delivery of democratic education.
4. The group discussed enablers and good practice, including engaging, practical activities, early and consistent exposure to democratic education, peer-to-peer engagement, collaboration, professional learning opportunities, resources and leadership.
5. Early mapping of school engagement shows some schools are highly engaged and others not at all.
Item 3: Reflections
6. The group reflected on the previous item and agreed that recommendations from IDAG on democratic education in formal education should be co-produced with teachers and young people to reflect practitioner and learner voices.
Items 4 and 5: Statement of Constitutional Values and Principles and Reflections
7. The group were joined by members of the expert panel of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales (ICCFW) to discuss the background to the ICCFW’s Recommendation 2 for a project to engage citizens in drafting a statement of constitutional and governance principles for Wales.
8. The purpose and function of such a statement were debated, including whether it should consolidate existing statutory obligations and principles or introduce new aspirational elements.
9. The group noted that much of the content already existed but was fragmented and agreed that IDAG should aim for high level guiding principles should a future Welsh Government choose to explore this further.
Item 6: Reflections on progress and next steps
10. The democratic education subgroup reported progress, having developed key questions, planned evidence sessions and plans to commission an evidence review.
11. IDAG’s strengthening political culture subgroup reported progress having planned an evidence session on deliberative engagement and plans to commission an evidence review.
12. The group planned to gather more expert/practitioner input, test findings with senior leaders, and prioritise outputs for a progress report to the Deputy First Minister by late February, with publication in March 2026.