Contents

2) The Size of the Assembly – With the Acquisition of Further Powers.

1.

Under S13 of the consultation paper, it is stated that if the Assembly were to acquire further powers, that it would be a major addition to its responsibilities. The paper goes onto state that primary legislation powers would allow the Assembly to create new rights and duties enforceable by the courts. The paper also factually states that this potentially could go far beyond the powers it currently has to make secondary legislation. The section concludes by stating that the impact of this would mean that parliamentary analysis and scrutiny would have be more intensive than is required in relation to the subordinate legislation for which the Assembly is currently responsible.

It is AWEMA’s view that its current engagement with the WAG/NAfW’s consultation documents is producing little or no change in the overall strategic approach of policy initiatives. Effective change as such, in the overall scheme is not evident. There is no recognition in policy documents that Wales is a multi-cultural and a multi-lingual country.

It is our view that this may be due to the fact that powers on issues of race, religion, language, culture, international development (issues of specific concern to the BME Communities) and asylum seekers are not devolved.

It is further our view that due to devolution, Parliamentary Government Departments have tended to ignore Wales in the last four years. Representations by AWEMA have started to reverse this trend, but the fact remains that the Welsh BME communities are being further marginalized from issues of significant concern to them.

2.

AWEMA has been engaged in responding to consultation documents in the field of Health, Housing, Education, Citizenship, Economic Development, Social Care, and Culture and the Arts. We have also responded to consultation documents on Languages, European Structural Funds, ELWA and CCETS.

With the exception of Housing and to a limited extent Social Care, we have made little impact with the WAG with our responses to documents. We see little evidence of our recommendations making it into strategy and policy with attendant attachment of necessary resources or an identified delivery mechanism.

This may well be due to the fact that the aspirations we express are beyond the powers of the Assembly. We have not tested this premise.

3.

AWEMA accepts that the acquisition of further powers will necessarily involve a substantial increase in the work of Members not only in analysing, debating and consulting but also examining new laws on committees. We further accept that in some committees, this work will not be evenly spread.

We would argue, however, that it is much more important to establish relevance and need for the people of Wales. Mechanism for effective delivery would then need to be separately considered. Other than critical audits of the Member’s workload to establish a support mechanism that may be necessarily required, consideration could be given in ensuring that the considerable expertise of the Voluntary Sector is also used to support the consultation processes so that legislation can be passed, ensuring the delivery of real difference in our communities lives.

Conclusions

1.

AWEMA’s current engagement with the WAG through consultation documents is having little or no impact. This may be due to the fact that powers have not properly been devolved.

2.

As a result of devolution, Government Departments have tended to ignore BME community issues in Wales. This has left the BME Communities of Wales further marginalized.

Recommendations

1.

AWEMA would strongly urge the Commission against maintaining the status quo as far as the present number of Members in the Assembly is concerned. We make this recommendation on the basis that the Members in our view cannot cope with the current level of work.

2.

AWEMA is not confident that the current work or arrangements can be effectively changed to accommodate the extra responsibilities we would propose.

3.

AWEMA recommends that consideration could be given to delegating some of the specific responsibilities to the creation of a new Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). This could be one that had specific responsibility in ensuring that the "marginalized" strands of equality are effectively embedded in the WAG strategies and policies.

4.

AWEMA believes that there is a case for increasing the number of Members if additional powers were conferred on the Assembly. We believe that the size should be determined in reference to the Scottish and Northern Ireland models that would resemble much more closely with the proportion between the Members and the population.

5.

AWEMA further recommends that when considering an increase in the numbers, that safeguards are in-built to take account of the absence of the ‘Marginalized Equality Strands’ i.e. race, minority religions and minority languages.