Meetings

Members considered the paper and agreed to:

a) write to the Business Committee with some proposed changes to Standing Order 23 for that Committee to consider - relating to the status of the committee as dedicated to considering petitions, and to clarify the process of consideration of petitions;

b) propose some minor amendments to the Presiding Officer’s Determination on the Proper Form of Public Petitions for clarity, in particular in relation to the inadmissibility of petitions on planning consents for Developments of National Significance (DNS);

c) note that the current thresholds for consideration and debate remained appropriate;

c) note the published responses to its targeted consultation on the future petitions process and issues raised by respondents, including the suggestion that a successor committee might wish to hold thematic inquiries on particular topics with a number of related petitions;

d) take a similar approach to the transition of petitions between the Sixth and Seventh Seneddau as that adopted between the Fifth and Sixth Seneddau. This would include the suspension of signatures on open petitions during the pre-election period, and a review of all petitions under consideration before dissolution to decide further actions, including whether to close or to refer on to the Seventh Senedd; and

e) note some issues discussed would be noted in the committee’s legacy report, for consideration by the Seventh Senedd.