Julie James MS, Counsel General and Minister for Delivery
I am pleased to announce that today I am publishing a draft of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill.
The Bill aims to give people in Wales the power to remove Members of the Senedd who seriously break conduct rules. It sets out a recall mechanism for the Senedd with two clear triggers that would lead to a Member becoming subject to a recall poll: where a Member is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment (including suspended sentences); and where the Senedd agrees a recommendation from the Standards of Conduct Committee that a Member should be subject to a recall poll as a result of serious misconduct.
Additionally, the draft Bill includes a statutory requirement for every Senedd to establish a Standards of Conduct Committee, which could – for the first time – include independent lay members. Furthermore, the Commissioner for Standards would gain additional powers to investigate concerns about Members’ conduct.
It also amends Welsh Ministers’ powers to set rules about how Senedd elections are run. In order to address deliberate deception, this will include a duty on Welsh Ministers to prohibit false statements in future conduct orders governing Senedd elections.
The draft Bill can be found by clicking the following link: https://www.gov.wales/draft- senedd-cymru-member-accountability-and-elections-bill.
The aim of publishing a draft of the Bill today is to give Senedd Members and interested stakeholders an opportunity to see the proposed scope and direction of the Bill before its formal introduction in the autumn. It is not published for further consultation at this stage. It is still subject to the Llywydd's determination and there may be changes before introduction. This is not therefore a final version.
I look forward to working with Senedd Members on the provisions of the Bill during scrutiny after the Bill is introduced.