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Assembly Commission |
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Venue: |
Presiding Officer’s office, 4th floor - Tŷ Hywel |
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Date: |
Wednesday, 21 October 2015 |
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Time: |
12.15 |
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Minutes: AC(4)2015(12) |
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Commission Members: |
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Dame Rosemary Butler AM (Chair) Peter Black AM Angela Burns AM Sandy Mewies AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM |
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Officials present: |
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Claire Clancy, Chief Executive & Clerk of the Assembly Craig Stephenson, Director of Commission Services Dave Tosh, Director of Resources Nicola Callow, Director of Finance Carys Evans, Head of Member Liaison and Professional Development
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Others in attendance: |
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David Melding AM, Deputy Presiding Officer
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1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction and apologies
There were no apologies.
1.2 Declarations of interest
There were no declarations of interest.
1.3 Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of 17 September were agreed.
2 Fifth Assembly Transition - welcome, induction and CPD
The Commission discussed a paper that provided proposals for welcome and induction arrangements for Members and their staff following the Assembly election in May 2016.
Commissioners also considered recommendations for an approach to Member and support staff CPD in the Fifth Assembly, following an in-depth review of the CPD programme in the Fourth Assembly.
These had been informed by:
- lessons learned and feedback from Members on post-election arrangements in 2011;
- the findings of the 2015 Members’ and AMSS survey, which included a question on the transition to the Fifth Assembly;
- discussions with Members (as part of a review of CPD);
- recent experience at Westminster with Members of Parliament;
- initial discussions with party groups; and
- feedback from the Committee Chairs forum on 24 September.
Commissioners agreed that lessons learned from the Fourth Assembly induction and CPD arrangements should feed into developments for the Fifth Assembly. Commissioners noted that the CPD offer was highly valued by Members and their support staff and that positive outcomes had been delivered as reflected in satisfaction surveys. It was agreed that future opportunities would be presented to Members in a way that recognised their entire range of responsibilities to ensure the best use of time and value for money.
3 Members' satisfaction survey
The Commission considered the results of the fourth annual Member and Support Staff survey.
Thirty three Members and 107 Support staff had responded to the survey and the majority of service areas saw an increase in their scores from 2014.
Commissioners recognised the value of such feedback to inform a strategic approach to further improvement and agreed that the survey results should be shared with Members and staff.
4 Finance Committee Report on Draft Budget 2016-17
The Commission received the Finance Committee’s report on the Commission’s draft budget, which had been published.
Commissioners discussed the key recommendations contained in the Committee’s report and agreed to accept each of them and respond positively to the Finance Committee.
5 Any other business
The Presiding Officer said that she had received representations about a proposed consultation on a youth parliament. It was agreed that given the positive reaction to the Assembly’s youth engagement programme, any future developments would have to be complementary to that and build on the excellent achievements of that programme.