Assembly Bwletin Cynulliad February 2013 Assembly Bwletin Cynulliad is a joint initiative between Grayling and the Institute of Welsh Affairs. Every month we aim to bring you the ABC of Welsh politics. For information on ABC, please con- On the agenda this tact: [email protected] or [email protected] month: Welsh language standards rejected New law on equal representation? Plaid Cymru Leader, Leanne Wood AM, has suggested that new legislation may be Articles needed to achieve the aim of equal repre- sentation of women in the National Assem- Welsh language standards bly for Wales, in response to a call from rejected Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler AM, to ensure more women are elected. New law on equal In a letter to Ms Butler, the South Wales representation? Welsh Language society Cymdeithas yr Central AM, and the first female leader of Iaith Gymraeg has criticised the announce- Plaid Cymru, claimed that measures to ment by Education Minister Leighton An- select female candidates in her own party Time to get your drews AM that proposed Welsh Language "are not always at their strongest" and that submissions in… Silk Part Standards, put forward by Welsh Language the National Assembly should “take action Two Commissioner Meri Huws, are to be reject- to ensure that political parties contesting ed. The proposals were described as elections have a duty to reflect the gender “unreasonable” and “unnecessarily com- balance of the Welsh nation across their Who’d want to a be a plex” by Mr Andrews, who added that they range of prospective candidates.” Any leg- Health Minister? “would not provide Welsh speakers with islation would at present need to be set at a Objections rumble on clear rights.” Westminster level, which has led Ms Wood to comment that a “consensus” between The proposed standards would oblige the the parties will need to struck. Where Welsh left could public sector and some private companies meet Welsh right The calls come against the backdrop of a in Wales to provide Welsh language ser- declining percentage of female representa- vices, and formed the centrepiece of the tion in the Senedd, from 52% in 2006, to Welsh Language Measure, passed by the 44% currently. Despite this decrease, the Event National Assembly in 2011. Cymdeithas yr National Assembly still reflect favourable Iaith Gymraeg said that the Education Min- proportionality compared to other devolved The second wave in Welsh isters dismissal was “bad news” and ac- nations across the UK, such as Scotland at cused the Minister of siding with the 34% and the UK Parliament at 22%. school improvement “interests of organisations and the profit of large companies”, an accusation that the Minister firmly denies. However, speaking Making Wales Competitive to BBC Radio Wales, John Walter Jones, - IWA National Economy former chief executive of the Welsh Lan- Conference 2013 guage Board, suggested that promotion of the language remained more important than regulations, adding "What we want to gar- ner is the support of the non Welsh speaker and I don't think that by going down the route of legislation and the 'thou shalt' ap- proach are we going to get them on board." Time to get your submissions in… Silk Part Two With the deadline for submissions of evidence to part two of the Silk Commission drawing near, both the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru have set out their plans for what they would like the future organisation of power in Wales to look like. The Welsh Government, in a nod to arrangements in Scotland, has called for a move to a ‘reserved powers’ model, whereby any matter not specifically reserved to Westminster falls within the competence of the National Assembly. Welsh Government Counsel General, Theodore Huckle, urged for the ‘reserved powers’ model following the rulings in the Supreme Court over the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Act, after a constitutional power tussle ensued over the legal competence relating to the Act. First Minister, Carwyn Jones AM, described his Government’s proposals as “a settlement that is both simpler and clearer than the present arrangements.” The Welsh Government submission also promotes the devolution of powers over the consenting of large scale energy and related infrastructure, with the exception of nuclear, to the National Assembly, claiming it would lead a more accountable and locally led decision process. More controversially, the submission calls for the devolution of policing “in order to strengthen joint working with devolved services and reduce offending.” The level of support from Mr Jones’ party colleagues at Westminster for the devolution of policing appears to be lukewarm, howev- er. Although Carwyn Jones AM has said the submission was by a “Welsh Labour Government”, fellow Welsh Labour member and shadow policing Minister, David Hanson MP, told BBC Radio Wales: “There are some really complex issues around this in relation to serious organised crime, counterterrorism, the legal system, justice, probation, which need to be examined in very great detail before such a major step would even be considered to be taken", suggesting that the issue of devolving the police service was not one wholly adopted by the Welsh Labour Party at this time. Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru’s submission seeks not just an increase in power for the National Assembly, but makes it clear that power should be devolved “without undue delay”. The call follows criticism of the Welsh Government’s position by a Plaid Cymru spokesperson, in a press release, as “a slow lane approach that would still leave the major levers of power at Westminster”. In addition to a reserved powers model, as proposed by the First Minister, Plaid Cymru calls for the establishment of a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales, com- plemented by the devolution of the justice system, including police, prisons and probation. It claims this would “create a coherent and workable system of devolved justice.” The submission also outlines proposals for the devolution of the civil service, as is the case in Northern Ireland. Accountable to the National Assembly, a devolved civil service would “drive closer co-operation between public sector organisations and spread best practice” according to Plaid Cymru. The Silk Commission will report on Part Two in Spring 2014. Who’d want to a be a Health Minister? Objections rumble on It has been a busy month for Health Minister Lesley Griffiths AM, as cuts to the health budget begin to disseminate down to local level and the reality of the reconfigured services has reaches the general public. There have been widespread objections against proposed changes, with public protests breaking out across the country, from Llandudno to Caerphilly. The main crux of the opposition revolves around the health board plans for change. Plans submitted by Hywel Dda Health Board for health services in Mid and West Wales have been referred to the Welsh Gov- ernment, following their rejection by the region’s Community Health Council, which consists of local councillors and healthcare profession- als. Whilst plans in Mid and West Wales have been passed to the Welsh Government, re-organisation in North Wales has gained Community Health Council approval, despite the vocal opposition locally. Resistance to change has centred on the removal of neonatal services from Glan Clwyd Hospital, which will result in patients requiring the specialist service to travel across the border to England. Cllr Huw Edwards, a member of the Community Health Council, claimed the move was “despicable” and subsequently resigned his position on the Council. The move in North Wales led Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, Darren Millar AM, to claim in a press release that the “NHS in Wales is home to an unacceptable democratic deficit” and that the “current process is flawed” given that communities “voiced their opposition”. Recent ambulance response times have provided some positive news for the Health Minister, although perhaps with a pinch of salt. Response times were up from previous months, but as a whole response times failed to meet targets and were down when compared to figures released in January last year. Kirsty Williams AM, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, pointed to what she called the "unacceptable postcode lottery" of ambulance service and that it came as “no real surprise” that targets had been missed for an eighth consecutive month. Responding to criticisim of his Government head on, First Minister Carwyn Jones AM claimed, on the Sunday Politics show, that the reconfigu- ration was essential and that the NHS in Wales “would collapse otherwise”. He added that his Government’s plans were aiming at, and will provide, a “safe and sustainable health service.” But with a recent BBC Wales poll suggesting that three quarters of people want district general hospitals to keep the current range of services, the First Minister and his Health Minister have some convincing to do. Where Welsh left could meet Welsh right David Melding asks whether unionism and nationalism can come together to provide a strong narrative for a federal Britain It is time to examine the compatibility of Unionism and Nationalism and ask whether they can combine to provide a strong narrative for a federal Britain. Such an ambitious objective might at first sight appear fanciful, but one thing these theories of identity certainly have in common is a desire to shape the horizontal plane of politics on which socio-economic ideologies strike vertically. Consequently, there are left and right wing Unionists and Nationalists. There are intimations in both Unionism and Nationalism that suggest the possibility of compromise and unexpected coalition. Both Unionism and Nation- alism are crucial forces in Britain because much Britishness lingers in Celtic Nationalism while Unionism requires a heavy dose of national sentiment in order to lift it above a mere civic identity.