Cabinet Committees begin to be formed in Wales in 2001, another sign of the Welsh Cabinet becoming, in Rhodri Morgan’s words, ‘more governmental’. Cabinet Committees are spaces where ministers from a range of departments can express their views on issues which may require cross-government input, or may be central to a government’s broader strategy. In the words of the current UK Ministerial Code, the business of Cabinet and committees consist of:
· a. questions which significantly engage the collective responsibility of the Government because they raise major issues of policy or because they are of critical importance to the public;
· b. questions on which there is an unresolved argument between departments
Cabinet committees help to ensure that government business is processed more effectively by relieving pressure on Cabinet. The committee structure also supports the principle of collective responsibility, ensuring that policy proposals receive thorough consideration without an issue having to be referred to the whole Cabinet. Cabinet committee decisions have the same authority as Cabinet decisions.
This explainer on Cabinet Committees from the Institute for Government is useful.
The current Welsh Government Ministerial Code has nothing to say about Cabinet Committees. It is worth noting that the terms ‘Committee’ and Sub-committee are sometimes used interchangeably, even within the same document.
Five Cabinet Committees were created in Wales in the 1999-2003 Assembly term::
· Children and Young people
· Corus (called a ‘Working Group’)
· Rural Regeneration
· Sustainable Development and Spatial Plan
· Wales in the World
With the exception of the Rural Regeneration committee, all commenced their work in 2001.
As I explained last week, the rationale for these cross-departmental committees developed over a series of Cabinet meetings in 2001, on 12 February, 12 March, and 2 April. Committee meetings commenced from April. In July at the Cabinet Awayday there was discussion of how they were proceeding, followed by a further paper to Cabinet.
The Cabinet Meeting on 19 November discussed a paper on the success of the Cabinet Committees so far. Amongst the lessons learned were:
· Sub-Committees have added value to decision making by making policy in a new and connected way – for example in the sub-regional strategies and the children and young people's framework
· The risk of Sub-Committees generating routine work such as monitoring or detailed oversight of implementation which does not need Ministers' collective time must be constantly considered in setting forward work plans
· That Sub-Committees have as a priority item a policy development rôle, and to review their continuation or refocusing with this in mind.
Where issues concerned only two departments, bilateral meetings between ministers were considered the right way forward. The Cabinet Paper is below:
I will briefly run through the Cabinet Committees’ deliberations in 2001, and explore the November Cabinet paper’s comments on their success.
Children and Young People
Membership and terms of reference were set out here.
In 2001, the Committee had 6 meetings. In its first meeting, the committee considered options for policy development on Children in Need and how to give young people a stronger voice.
Two papers used an old form of word that I couldn’t convert: the ToR and a paper on partici[ation of young people.
The second meeting discussed the Children’s Manifesto, the need for an early consultation on a voice for young people, and heard from Gwenda Thomas AM on children in need. She noted:
the position of Social Services within the new structures of local government, which did not always reflect the importance of the issue. Mrs Thomas observed that under the cabinet system the political responsibility for delivering social services often fell on the shoulders of just one person, rather than being spread, as before, amongst the members of a committee. She cited this as being a particular value of area children’s committees – to spread responsibility and give councillors experience and a meaningful role in child protection, making use of their local knowledge.
The First Minister:
identified that the challenge to the committee was to deliver "joined-upness" between discrete responsibilities – responsibilities for services directly provided by the Assembly, and for those resourced by the Assembly but delivered by others. As a step towards this, the other Ministers were to be invited to the meetings to talk through their policies that impacted on children.
The regulatory role was made difficult by the extent and nature of UK government responsibilities. A list needed to be kept of areas of national government responsibility which impinged upon children and young people and of all authorities holding these responsibilities.
There was one paper:
The third meeting ‘noted that the minutes would become a public record. Conventions were agreed concerning naming of officials.’
There was a presentation from the new Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
The Committee discussed how best to provide input at a UK level:
The Chair was making arrangements to meet John Denham, the Minister for Children and Young People in England, and would take up with the Secretary of State for Wales the issue of representation on the UK Cabinet Committee on Children and Young People. A chart was needed of UK Ministers with responsibility for children and young people’s issues and their areas of responsibility.
The Committee discussed educational targets for looked-after children:
Improving educational outcomes for looked-after children was a key target in the Assembly’s local government-delivered Children First Programme, in the Local Government Policy Agreements, and in Education Strategic Plans. It also impinged upon Children (Leaving Care) Act implementation.
The Committee noted that:
A Children’s Policy Team had been established comprising all relevant group directors to ensure co-ordination between policy Divisions. This would be supported by a sub-group who would act as champions for the Children and Young People agenda across the Assembly, disseminating a broader understanding of the issues through their daily work.
Two papers are available:
The fourth meeting had a presentation from the Education inspectorate Estyn and the Social Services Inspectorate Wales (SSIW) – note this is initially and wrongly called the School Standards Inspectorate Wales in the Minutes.
Information was being pulled together on statistics concerning children and young people in Wales.
There was an update on UK Government policy structures.
The importance of the Independent Status of the Children’s Commissioner was noted:
The committee wished to clarify the Commissioner’s relations with, and independence from, the Assembly. This needed to be clear to everybody, including to the Assembly as a whole. The Commissioner’s independence was underpinned by the regulations governing his appointment….The Minister would write to colleagues informing them of the paper and its resonance.
The fifth meeting discussed the child-proofing of policies across the Assembly, in response to a presentation from Save the Children.
The committee discussed a paper on the interface between the Children’s Commissioner and the Assembly:
It was most important to establish systems for dealing with the Commissioner which were clear to all concerned, including the general public.
Ministers were generally satisfied with the guidance, but felt that clarification was needed within it of the exact nature and extent of the Commissioner’s powers. It was agreed that the Minister for Health and Social Services should lead on responses to the Commissioner where the issues raised spanned more than one portfolio.
It was also suggested that it would be appropriate for the Commissioner to meet the First Minister and other Ministers on an annual basis, in addition to the Chair’s regular meetings.
The sixth meeting had a presentation from the Minister for the Environment and Transport on Safe Routes to Schools and Road Safety Strategy.
There was a presentation from Children in Wales which expressed concern that the recently published Welsh Government document A Learning Country had as its focus on Early Years the position of three year olds:
It was important to recognise that learning started from birth. This would take into account the research evidence on the need for stimulation of babies and toddlers to assist later development. It was notable that the chapter on Early Years in The Learning Country focussed on three year olds. More information and support was needed for parents of children in the 0 to 3 age range. A national programme would be the next logical step, identifying good practice in parenting and infant literacy programmes and setting out guidance. This, combined with the new foundation stage would provide a good start. The integrated centres model was a good one, but partnerships had requested guidance on possible models to meet local circumstances.
The Committee noted overlaps between the Assembly’s Childcare Taskforce and its Early Years Advisory Panel.
The Committee noted with dismay that the Children’s Society was withdrawing from Wales
.
Corus
The membership and terms of reference for the Corus ‘Working Group’ were set out here:
This was likely to be a temporary committee, with its focus being ‘to discuss, monitor and ensure the implementation of the remedial measures arising from the restructuring, plant closures and redundancies announced by Corus plc in February/March 2001.’ The committee held seven meetings in 2001. Some of the government’s work on steel regeneration was reported in last week’s post.
The first meeting heard from the First Minister that
proposals for an aid package following the meeting between Corus and the trades unions on 27 March. Any aid package would need to have a significant training component and be linked with capacity reduction for it to meet the requirements of Article 95 of the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty.
Work in approaching the EU would be led by the UK Government.
Officials updated Ministers on the proposed schemes under consideration with regard to the four affected areas of Llanwern, Ebbw Vale, Bryngwyn and Shotton. It was important that the Assembly, Local Authorities, the Welsh Development Agency and Corus worked together to ensure that the four affected sites were re-developed as a whole. There were some encouraging signs that Corus were looking for partnership in their plans for the Ebbw Vale and Bryngwyn sites. It was therefore important that agreement was sought with Corus to ensure that any future development of such sites was done though partnership.
The First Minister said that decisions on whether and how to pursue any of the proposed schemes was for the Working Group and Cabinet. The First Minister requested that officials prepare a grid identifying the positive and negative aspects with regard to all of the schemes that had so far been identified.
Llanwern
the purchase of the 100 acre site south of Llanwern steelworks and options for its re-development.
the development of improved access between the proposed southern distributor road and the M4, through improvements to the Llanwern road.
the use of the Llanwern sports ground as a possible community-wide asset.
options for the use of the Llanwern site assuming the closure by Corus of the heavy end. This should include the legal contamination obligations for Corus, likely cost and the timescale involved.
Ebbw Vale
the development of a passenger rail link between Ebbw Vale and Newport.
the use of the existing buildings at the Ebbw Vale site including options such as adaptation or demolition, and the views of Corus on the re-development of the site.
Bryngwyn
the after use of the existing buildings at the Bryngwyn site and the views of Corus on the re-development of the site.
Shotton
measures to ensure that training packages are tailored towards labour demands in respect of the airbus production.
The second meeting was something of a holding meeting as there were further discussions between Corus and the Unions and it was not clear when the Welsh Cabinet statement could be made. It was agreed all the sites needed to be decontaminated. Regeneration issues were explored and discussion commenced on moving public sector jobs to the affected site in Ebbw Vale.
The third meeting discussed a series of practicalities relating to regeneration and retraining.
The fourth meeting again discussed redundancy, retraining and regeneration issues. An overview of the support being provided was being drawn up in grid form.
There was a discussion on the relevance of the Llanwern site to the construction of the proposed M4 Relief Road:
The cost of constructing a first phase of the M4 relief road with a terminal interchange serving the Llanwern site would be about £34 million, plus £29m for a new interchange between Magor and Rogiet.
This issue came up again in the fifth meeting when it was noted that some difficulties of aligning sites had been resolved.
There were further discussions on practicalities of the regeneration plans and the roles of different ASPBs.
The sixth meeting had an extensive discussion on the prospects for the economy in South East Wales (principally the former ‘Gwent’ area).Progress had been made on drawing up a matrix of what was being done by government in respect of Corus closues overall. Prospects for a research and development area at Port Talbot and the interest of Swansea University, were noted.
The seventh meeting had an extensive discussion on the Sub-Regional Regeneration Framework:
For the Sub-Region as a whole and for Newport specifically key issues could include:
Addressing training needs, including through the Basic Skills Strategy and Education and Learning Wales (ELWa):
Developing Newport as the key economic driver for the Sub-Region (including consideration of an Urban Regeneration Company)
Specific projects such as redevelopment of the Llanwern site and the Newport to Ebbw Vale passenger railway
For the Torfaen and Monmouth areas the key issue would be redeployment of current Welsh Development Agency (WDA) and ELWa resources in a way complementary to each other.
The major issues with regard to Blaenau Gwent were:
Medium- to long-term reuse of the Ebbw Vale site
Specific proposals for the establishment of The Learning Campus, including its purpose and target market, informed by a demand analysis
Ministers agreed that realism was needed about some of the projects specified, in particular the M4 relief road. It was important that the proposals in the Framework did not prejudice the Assembly Government’s considered Transport Strategy.
Rural Regeneration.
The membership and terms of reference of this Cabinet Committee were set out here: The committee’s objective was ‘to consider policies with actual or potential impacts on rural regeneration and ensure that these policies are beneficial, mutually reinforcing, and carried out in an integrated way.’ The Committee commenced its meetings in 2002.
Sustainable Development and Spatial Plan
The membership and terms of reference were set out here:
The sub-committee’s terms of reference were to:
steer the development of the Assembly’s Sustainable Development Scheme and to monitor, evaluate and secure delivery of the commitments in it; and to
deliver the Wales Spatial Plan and then promote its implementation
The committee held three meetings in 2001.
The first meeting discussed the options for policy development, consistency in applying the Sustainable Development duty, relations with the Assembly’s working group and with ASPBs.
The second meeting saw a need for clarifying these relationships:
the Minister for Environment clarified for the benefit of the meeting the groups that the Assembly was setting up to advance the Sustainable Development (SD) agenda, and their relation to one another. These were:
the Sub-Committee itself,
the external forum (an expert advisory body) and
the Assembly co-ordinating group.
The committee noted that in order to satisfy the requirements of the SD scheme it was necessary to have a robust and reasonable process of decision making which it could be demonstrated had been gone through before decisions were taken.
The third meeting discussed low energy housing and sustainable warmth; greening of Assembly operations; a draft green transport plan; public sector waste minimisation; renewable energy; and a voluntary code of practice on Assembly procurement.
Wales in the World
The Wales in the World Committee held three meetings in the year. The first meeting agreed terms of reference: "to raise the international profile and influence of Wales and establish it as a first-class place to live, study, visit and do business”.
The meeting discussed a Strategy/Programme for action which considered the role of different organisations in contributing to the international promotion of Wales, including ASPBs, universities, and sporting organisations. There was a need to clarify which overseas regions and territories offered benefits to Wales. Consideration was given to ethical international relations. There was a discussion on branding.
The second meeting had a presentation from the Central Office of Information (COI) on the branding of ‘Wales World Nation’:
The COI reviewed the web and existing research on the profile of Wales. They concluded that there were a number of positives on which to build, such as historic values, natural beauty, the people of Wales, sporting prowess, tourism, plus the energy/creativity that had gone into developing the Wales World Nation initiative so far. However, they found that Wales was “out of the medals” and lagged significantly behind England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales was seen to suffer from some perceived negatives. COI concluded that much of this could be the result of too much, and unclear, messaging, with a vast number of websites (Assembly, Welsh Development Agency, Welsh Tourist Board etc)…. A quick hit/win, recommended by COI, would be to bring together the Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB) websites in a corporate style and under the overarching Wales World Nation website, acting as a ‘portal’ to the others. This could be achieved fairly quickly and would not prejudice the development of the Strategy.
The third meeting considered the relationship with ASPBs:
Co-ordination between the Assembly Government and Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies (ASPBs) was to be achieved through the inclusion in remit letters of a requirement to consult with other ASPBs in drawing up their operational plans. This requirement had been included in the remit letter sent to the Welsh Development Agency.
The core values imbuing the work of the ASPBs should be those of the Welsh Assembly Government. It was important to work directly with ASPBs at Chair level to encourage them to accept the need for co-operation and to work to a common corporate identity….
The policy was to co-locate WTB, WDA and Wales Trade International (WTI) representation overseas where practical. These “Welsh Centres” could then serve a variety of purposes, including promoting tourism, providing facilities for visiting Welsh exporters and artists as well as giving direct internet access to universities, libraries and museums.
Coordination with the higher education sector seeking to recruit overseas students was important.
The committee discussed cross-governmental working on European issues; branding, following the COI proposals; health links with developing countries; existing international networks, including those involving ethnic minority communities in Wales; and potential European regions where the Assembly should establish partnerships.
Observations
The Committee system provided opportunities for more in-depth cross-governmental discussion than Cabinet could allow time for. Some Committees had a continuous developing agenda; the Corus committee had been established in response to an industrial emergency and operated as a Working Group. With the decision to publish minutes there came a need to determine how to refer to officials, which was largely done collectively in terms of their policy division. It should be noted that papers taken to these committees do not appear to be available for 2001. However, the Committee minutes give deeper background which should be of interest to historians and researchers in a number of policy areas. Developing policies on children and young people, including childcare; sustainable development; the branding of Wales; and redundancy, retraining, regeneration all emerge in practice in these committees. However, they have hardly been used in academic research so far.