Scrutiny Committee does what it says on the tin

On Thursday last week (14th Nov) a cross party committee of Welsh Assembly members convened for the new Scrutiny Committee of the First Minister which was established on May 2^nd this year and judging from the first session and the detailed questions asked, it might actually prove a useful forum for AM’s to hold Carwyn Jones to account for a change, especially with First Minister’s Questions  proving no more  than a finger pointing and blame game exercise these days.

It is chaired by Deputy Presiding Officer David Melding, with Plaid Cymru’s Elin Jones, Lib Dem Eluned Parrott, Labour’s Mark Drakeford and Conservative Paul Davies the other members.

The two areas the Committee chosen to ask questions are were the legislative process and the Government’s approach to promoting enterprise.

The legislative questions yielded more information about the working relationship between Welsh Government Ministers and their UK Partners, the regular meetings and consultations, how the Bylaws bill ended up in the Supreme Court and measure to prevent that happening in the future and the capabilities of the Civil Service and policy capacity of Civil Society, Think Tank’s and NGO’s in Wales to enable constructive legislation to pass through the Assembly

On promoting enterprise there was less new info and the public sector ethos so prevalent in Welsh society, there were questions on Enterprise Zones, how each department is contributing to job creation, entrepreneurship and business growth, procurement policy and how SME’s can fully benefit from the procurement  process and  Social Enterprise policy

I’ve only see this report with Cawryn  blaming UK cuts and redundancies for the ‘legislative challenges’ he face, not a real surprise the press picked up on that, but it’s typical of the standard f press and the lack of interest that this was all that came out, because there were several  things that could have been reported, not least the Committee’s first sitting.

It’s one to keep an eye on certainly, there isn’t a transcript, but the full session from Senedd TV is HERE if you want more info.