Welsh Overseas Agencies Group (WOAG)

Submission to the Richard Commission

February 2003

Introduction

The Welsh Overseas Agencies Group (WOAG) is a networking body of organisations, dedicated to working together for the promotion of international development and global justice. Its members are: CAFOD Wales; Christian Aid/ Cymorth Cristno.gol; Oxfam Cymru; Save the Children/Achub y Plant; British Red Cross Wales; and the Welsh Centre for International Affairs.

In relation to the Richard Commission's terms of reference, WOAG's most relevant purposes are - raising awareness of development and justice issues with public institutions; and undertaking joint action, through channels such as the National Assembly's All Party International Development Group.

WOAG agencies have successfully changed their approaches since 1999 so as to relate to the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). This is because we are convinced that the National Assembly's remit is relevant to our international aims and priorities. Examples of where we have had influence on the Assembly's business are:

  • The first St David's Day debate, on the subject of International Debt;
  • Evidence to Assembly Subject Committees on Education for Sustainable Development, Global Citizenship, and Asylum and Immigration issues;
  • Input into plenary debates on Afghanistan, HIV/AIDS, Fair Trade, Development Education, Sustainable Development, and Asylum Seekers and Refugees;
  • The setting-up in April 2001 of the All Party Group mentioned above; Briefings to the First Minister prior to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, plus joint events held in Johannesburg in August 2002.

WOAG wishes to make the following five points to the Richard Commission. They constitute evidence, in the view of our agencies, that the Assembly currently does not have all of the powers it needs to operate effectively ana to meet the expectations of the people of Wales.

Assembly powers

1. The relationship between Cardiff and certain Whitehall departments needs to be clarified and the division of roles redefined. WOAG agencies and their sister or parent organisations in England relate in particular to the Department for International Affairs (DfID). There is currently no concordat between WAG and DfID, yet there is one between it and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This has led to occasional lack of co-ordination. For example, DfID held a number of Policy Fora meetings throughout the UK during 2002. A much larger Welsh Assembly Government sponsored conference on a related topic took place, in the same venue in Cardiff, just one week before the DfID Forum there. Neither WAG nor DfID was aware of the other's event until it was too late to alter their plans. With regard to funding streams from DfID, these have been clarified to an extent in the realm of development education and awareness in Wales, but some confusion still remains on overall financing responsibilities in this field.

WOAG therefore believes that a more formalised arrangement, through a concordat, should be drawn up with DfID; and that DfID should commit a dedicated staff member to manage its relationship and funding arrangements with WAG and with the international non-governmental organisation (NGO) sector in Wales.

2. WOAG agencies believe that Wales has a long history of commitment to international issues - a commitment that is somewhat distinct from that of the other nations of the UK. Consequently, it is our belief that the Assembly should consider a role for itself in the field of international development. Our sister organisation in Scotland, NIDOS, is currently working with the Scottish Executive on creating a (small) Scottish overseas aid budget. This may be thought to be premature for Wales. Yet WAG is nonetheless sponsoring a regional government from a developing country to attend the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development Conference in San Sebastian, the Basque country/Euskadi in March 2003. Resources have also previously been allocated in this field - for example to events at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.

WOAG contends that a separate aid budget, however limited at this stage, would enable Welsh priorities to be met and for WAG to take initiatives on its own. This budget could be held within the External Affairs Unit of the Economic Development Department, for example, which has already incorporated European and global responsibilities within WAG over the past 4 years.

3. It is the issue of asylum that for many WOAG members, and our supporters, has most clearly demonstrated the need for greater powers for the Assembly. The failings of the Home Office's National Asylum Support Service (NASS) in dispersing asylum seekers to Wales have been obvious to all parties involved. The Assembly has responded by setting up the Welsh Refugee Integration Forum, with inter-agency backing, to provide support to those granted refugee status. The Forum, however, is operating in a context whereby up until the point that refugee status is granted, nearly all the decisions are taken by NASS. Even ascertaining from NASS the numbers of asylum seekers being sent to Wales, and therefore the numbers likely to gain refugee status, is difficult for the Assembly, making forward planning all but impossible.

WOAG therefore believes the Assembly should extend its powers in the field of asylum seekers in Wales, to ensure a more co-ordinated and, ultimately, more humane approach to the issue here. This would have implications in terms of relations and funding allocations with the Home Office.

4. The ability of the Welsh Assembly Government to influence and provide input into European Commission (EC) affairs has been strengthened over the past 4 years, but should be increased further. The arrangement whereby Wales is represented within UK delegations at ministerial level allows for a distinctly Welsh view to be articulated on occasion. This is also the case within the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, through the WAG EU Office in Brussels. WOAG agencies in their turn have had success on EU-related matters in Wales -promoting the need for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, for instance, in the interests of the world's poor.

WOAG believes that the opportunity for views to be articulated directly to the EC's formal structures, on matters that impinge on the European Union's external policies as well as on its internal ones, should be taken by WAG representatives whenever possible. The CAP and asylum/ immigration issues are two such matters with international ramifications that we feel can legitimately have input through the National Assembly to help formulate the UK's stance.

Electoral arrangements

1. We do not believe that the number of elected members in the National Assembly for Wales is adequate to allow it to operate effectively, in terms of what the Government of Wales Act set out as the intention for the body. Scrutiny of the executive's actions and the operation of the Committee structure have been less efficient than they potentially could have been because of this reduced size. This echoes the point made by the Welsh Centre for International Affairs in its response to the NAAG consultation in May 1998. Our agencies' experiences have shown that an increase in size would be an important step that should be taken, to make the National Assembly both more representative and better able to deliver democratically.

WOAG believes that partial election by proportional representation is welcome. An increase in the elected members to number 80, with the additional 20 seats being elected by proportional representation, would lead to significant improvements in the National Assembly's efficiency in our view.

Welsh Overseas Agencies Group February 2003