P-04-454 Call to end Councillor and Assembly Member Dual Role – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Chair, 02.06.2013

 

 

WRITTEN SUBMISSION: Petitions Committee ---18/6/2013.—OPEN DOCUMENT

 

Deadline 7/6/2013-Local Government and Government Business

7.12

 

P-04-454 Call to end Councillor and Assembly Member Dual Role

 

 

For Inclusion ---------------Committee  Deliberations.-18-06-2013.------------------------------

 

·         ACTION request lead Petitioner;-N PERROTT

 

·         ARGUMENT provision lead petitioner:

 

·         PROCEDURAL request lead petitioner.

 

ACTION :

 

The Petition Committee has the following options:

 

Action on a Petition

 

23.8 If a petition is admissible, the Presiding Officer must refer that petition to a responsible committee.

 

23.9 The responsible committee must:

 

(i) refer the petition to the government, any other committee of the Assembly or any other person or body for them to take such action as they consider appropriate;

 

(ii) report to the Assembly; or

 

(iii) take any other action which the committee considers appropriate.

 

23.10 The responsible committee must notify the petitioner of any action taken under Standing Order 23.9.

 

ACTION POINTS**

 

Petition Committee refer to a RESPONSIBLE committee---it is suggested  CLACttee  with a

view to drafting amending legislation.***to bar the possibility of AM’s holding simultaneously membership of a Principal Unitary Authority concurrently with Membership of  the National Assembly of Wales.

 

Petition Committee report to Assembly that a reference is to be made to the Electoral Commission to seek it’s view on the “ending of the dual role” and seeking from the Electoral Commission case examples from other Jurisdictions.[USA,EU jurisdictions].

 

 

 

Op cit-Electoral Commission

 Prioritising our regulatory activity

Audit, advice and campaign monitoring

December 2010

(Updated May 2012)

 

2.27 By definition we will not hold information of this kind about every registered party, and so it cannot be used to create formal profiles. We will log and collate relevant information as we receive it, but will not publish it. Our Advice and Guidance Team will refer to the information we hold when considering whether it is appropriate to offer advice on our own initiative. This process is underpinned by our horizon scanning activity which gathers media reports about emerging trends and likely areas on which we may need to target in future. The types of information we will log are set out in Appendix C and can be grouped under three headings:

• public profile

• governance and capacity

• external factors

 

Petition Comittee in response to Ministerail correspondence  from WG to ask  for resource to be deployed to assist the drafting of an amending measure to give effect to the proposed change to  legislation required in  amending the Nat ional Assembly Order.

 

Under Nat Assembly -STANDING ORDER

 

24.14 Legislation, which is neither government legislation, committee

legislation nor Commission legislation, is referred to as “Member

legislation”.

Where none of the THREE possible routes to legislative change are forthcoming   

The Petition Committee via the Assembly report to Members who would be invited  to

 -Canvas any views and interest from AM’s who would be interested to -Bring forward draft legislation in a  Private Assembly Members capacity  as Assembly Member legislation  to allow the Drafting, Consultation and Tabling of the proposed legislative change - if any of the available THREE avenues prove not to come to fruition.

 

PROCEDURAL:

General Principles

11. The law requires that the interests of parties who are affected by a proposed

 Order are dealt with fairly, justly and openly; that all the

evidence  is fully considered and that decisions are based only on material

considerations  to which all the parties have had access. The Assembly’s

decisions,  and hence any Order which is authorised by the Assembly, can be

challenged  in the courts if these principles are not followed.

The 29-1-13 Petition Committee meeting did 5 things:

1.    Contacted  the Minister

2.    Wrote to CLAC committee[see e mail -18/2/13-asking for FULL transparency]

3.    Wrote to Assembly Commission .

4.    Wrote to Counsel General---indicating whether there are  any legal impediment to change .—no advice or view has been adduced in correspondence.—save for-reference in Minister’s  letter.-COUNSEL[typo]

5.       Requested a   legal briefing- no advice or briefing available.

-**REQUEST**Legal advice is required to be disclosed.to  petitioner.**

 

The CLAC deliberations were held in CAMERA [18-2-13] and details of correspondence from PETITIONS COMMITTEE to CLAC have been redacted.

 

ACTION POINT-**

The LEAD petitioner requests that all e mail traffic, letters, correspondence and memoranda ,notes of meetings be made available in a BUNDLE to the lead Petitioner in the interests of transparency and due process and General Principles of Law @11 above.

 

Summary-

 

 

 

·       It is a straightforward task to amend the Order.

·       It is straightforward requirement to determine the efficacy of the change both in principle and policy terms.

·       It is straightforward to open the proposed change to wider debate and consideration.

 

 

 

 

 

NORTRIDGE PERROTT

P454-Lead Petitioner/