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Who Decides What in Wales 1 - at the Wales Level

The Welsh Assembly
Thought we only have one elected Assembly body in Wales? Well not any longer. The National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government were formally separated by the Government of Wales Act 2007. It may sound a little confusing but in reality it should help clarify who does what and who has responsibility at the Wales level for Wales wide policies.

The Welsh Assembly Government – or WAG for short, is the devolved government for Wales, that is, it’s the lead body within Wales on a whole range of policy fields. It consists of a ‘Cabinet’ – sometimes also called the ‘executive’ – which is made up of between 7 and 10 Ministers. Each Assembly Minister leads a department of government such as health or education, the exception being the First Minister whose role is to lead his or her cabinet. In straight forward terms, WAG is the Wales equivalent of what is usually referred to simply as the ‘Government’ at Westminster, with Ministers instead of Secretaries of State and a First Minister taking the role of Prime Minister. The Cabinet makes many of the Assembly’s day to day decisions and leads on policy development.

The National Assembly for Wales – National Assembly for Wales’ primary role is to scrutinise the decisions and actions of the Welsh Assembly Government. It can therefore be regarded as Wales’ ‘legislature’ for devolved powers.

The Assembly’s Powers – the Government of Wales Act 2006 strengthened the Assembly’s powers. The Act introduces new law making powers that will mean the Assembly can pass laws which previously had to go through the UK Parliament. Passing such laws is not as simple as one might imagine however – authority over the process in Wales relies on cooperation and consent between Cardiff Bay and Westminster.

Devolved issues include…

• Health and social care
• Education and training;
• Transport;
• Economic development and finance,
• Culture, Welsh language and sport;
• The environment and town planning;
• Social justice and regeneration
• Agriculture
• Tourism
• Fire and Rescue services
• Water and flood defences

There are 60 AMs elected to the Assembly, 40 as constituency AMs and 20 as regional AMs. Elections are held every four years and a ‘proportional representation’ electoral system is used to make sure political parties receive a similar share of seats in the Assembly compared to the share of votes they receive from the electorate.

Local Government
There are more terms for local government bodies than the UK has political parties – but don’t let that confuse you. Wales has 22 Unitary Authorities (also called local councils, County Councils, County Borough Councils…) each providing services to a county or county borough. UAs have a broad range of policy and service responsibilities, including social services, housing, roads and transport, funding local projects, community development and regeneration, environmental health inspection, planning, accessibility, garbage collection and recycling. UA elected members are elected on a ‘first past the post’ basis on a fixed four year cycle. There are 1257 councillors in Wales.

Health Care in Wales
Health is a devolved issue, as such it is the responsibility of the National Assembly and the Welsh Assembly Government. At the Assembly, the government minister responsible for the NHS is the Minister for Health and Social Services. The Minister is answerable to the Welsh Assembly. At the local level, there are now seven Local Health Boards, responsible for the commissioning and delivery of health care across Wales. These LHBs were set up in October 2009 and replaced the NHS Trusts and 22 Local Health Boards that previously existed.

Education
Apart from deciding on terms and conditions for teachers, almost all issues relating to education in Wales has been devolved. Ultimate responsibility for education in Wales lies at the Assembly and with the Welsh Assembly Department of Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills. There are twenty two local education authorities (LEAs) in Wales, one in each of the counties. The main role of LEAs is the spending of education funding on schools, the management of local system, special educational needs provision, grants, school standards and access to education. Each school in Wales also has a board of governors.

Links and contact details

Name: BBC – Politics News
Web: news.bbc.co.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: BBC – Politics News

Name: BBC Wales – Politics News
Web: news.bbc.co.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: BBC – Politics News

Name: National Assembly for Wales – list of Assembly Members (AMs)
Web: www.assemblywales.org
Email:
Tel:
Info: National Assembly for Wales – list of all Assembly Members (AMs) and their contact details. We all have five local AMs – one is out local constituency AMs and four are ‘regional’ AMs – covering a wider part of Wales. You can contact any or all of them.

Name: Westminster Parliament – list of Members of Parliament (MPs)
Web: www.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/index.cfm
Email:
Tel:
Info: Government website listing all MPs by name and by constituency

Name: DirectGov – contact details for all Welsh councils
Web: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/DG_065241
Email:
Tel:
Info: DirectGov – contact details for all Welsh councils and their websites. Your local council can provide details of all of your local councillors.

Name: European Parliament UK Office website – list of all UK MEPs
Web: www.europarl.org.uk/section/your-meps/your-meps
Email:
Tel:
Info: European Parliament UK Office website – list of all UK MEPs with contact details.

Name: National Assembly for Wales
Web: www.assemblywales.org
Email:
Tel: 0845 010 5500
Textphone: 0845 010 5678
Info: The National Assembly for Wales is the democratically elected body that represents the interests of Wales and its people, makes laws for Wales and holds the Welsh government to account.

Name: Welsh Assembly Government
Web: www.wales.gov.uk
Email:
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Info: The Welsh Assembly Government is responsible for most of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people of Wales, including the economy, health, education, and local government.

Name: Westminster Parliament
Web: www.parliament.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: The official website for the UK House of Parliament.

Name: The Prime Minister’s office (UK)
Web: www.number10.gov.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: The official website for the Prime Minister’s office.

Name: European Parliament UK Office website
Web: www.europarl.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: Europa – the European Union’s portal web site
Web: europa.eu
Email:
Tel:
Info: EUROPA is the European Union’s portal web site. It provides all the information made available on the Internet by the institutions and bodies of the European UnioEUROPA is administered by the European Commission in partnership with the other European institutions.

Name: The Labour Party
Web: www.labour.org.uk
Email:
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Info:

Name: Plaid Cymru
Web: www.plaidcymru.org
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: The Conservative Party
Web: www.conservatives.com
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: The Liberal Democrats
Web: www.libdems.org.uk
Email:
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Name: The Green Party
Web: www.greenparty.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: UK Independence Party
Web: www.ukip.org
Email:
Tel:
Info:

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