Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru)

Joined the Commonwealth: 19 November 1926

CPA Branch Formed: 1 January 2000

Unicameral/Bicameral: Unicameral – Welsh Parliament (60)

Parliament/Legislature website: click here

Standing Orders: Parliament

Committees:

Number of Departmental/Ministry Oversight Committees: Currently 17 (these are not themed by department/Minister, instead each is allocated areas of responsibility. Between them are responsible for holding Government to account and scrutinising legislative proposals).

Names of House Management (such as Privileges or Procedure) Committees: Business Committee

Recent articles in The Parliamentarian (2013 to date):

• The Parliamentarian 2023 Issue Three - CWP News: Welsh Senedd women drive vision for gender equal politics with new Women’s Caucus
• The Parliamentarian 2023 Issue Three - CPA news: CPA Secretary-General's visit to CPA Wales Branch
• The Parliamentarian 2020 Issue One - Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones AM, Welsh Assembly - Senedd & Elections Bill
• The Parliamentarian 2018 Issue One - Joyce Watson, AM, Tackling the problem of modern slavery in Wales (Modern Slavery Project)
• The Parliamentarian 2017 Issue Four - Hon. Ann Jones, AM, Deputy Presiding Officer, Parliamentarians with Disabilities
• The Parliamentarian 2017 Issue Two - Joyce Watson AM, Women and Economic Empowerment and report of CWP BIMR Conference in Wales
• The Parliamentarian 2017 Issue One - Laura Elliot, 8th Commonwealth Youth Parliament - Youth Perspective from participant
• The Parliamentarian 2013 Issue Three - Hon. Rosemary Butler AM, Putting Women in Public Life in Wales at the top of the Political Agenda

Recent CPA Programmatic Activities/News:

Branch Members Rhun ap Iorwerth MS (Chair) David Melding MS, Rhianon Passmore MS, Joyce Watson MS and David Rowlands MS participated in the September 2020 Regional Conference, hosted by CPA Malta. During the conference AGM, CPA Wales Vice-President, Ann Jones OBE MS was elected as the Region’s CPwD Champion.

Rhianon Passmore MS has been leading the BIMR working Group on Covid-19 workstream on “Agile and Effective Parliaments”.

In February 2021 Rhianon Passmore MS and Suzy Davies MS participated in the virtual Regional CWP Conference. On 1 March Joyce Watson MS contributed towards the CPA UK virtual roundtable discussion, on the topic of best practice for legislation and implementation protecting women from violence across the Commonwealth.

Several of CPA Wales’ Members and officials are due to participate in March’s virtual Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change, hosted by CPA UK.

Branch Members have also, during this reporting period, participated in CPA technical training programmes, including post-election seminars and workshops with the parliaments of Lesotho, Sierra Leone and Trinidad & Tobago.

On 6 May 2021 Wales will go to the polls for the Welsh Parliament elections – the first to be held since the passing of the Senedd and Elections Wales Act – which will extend the franchise to 16 & 17 year olds as well as eligible foreign nationals.