Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales: progress report
Progress report submitted to the First Minister, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, and the Leader of Plaid Cymru.
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Background
The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales has been established by the Welsh Government with 2 broad objectives:
- To consider and develop options for fundamental reform of the constitutional structures of the United Kingdom, in which Wales remains an integral part
- To consider and develop all progressive principal options to strengthen Welsh democracy and deliver improvements for the people of Wales.
The commission membership comprises:
- Co-chair: Laura McAllister
- Co-chair: Rowan Williams
- Anwen Elias
- Miguela Gonzalez
- Michael Marmot
- Lauren McEvatt
- Albert Owen
- Philip Rycroft
- Shavanah Taj
- Kirsty Williams
- Leanne Wood
An expert panel is being appointed to provide support to the commission on a range of specialisms, such as governance, law, constitution, business, economics, and finance, to help it make informed recommendations.
Progress
The commission met for the first time on 25 November 2021, and has now met to hear evidence on 5 occasions.
To date, the commission has heard evidence at its meetings from the following people and organisations:
- The Lord Dunlop
- Rt Hon Simon Hart MP, Secretary of State for Wales
- Rt Hon Professor Carwyn Jones
- Rt Hon Lord Paul Murphy
- Neil O'Brien MP, Minister for Levelling Up, the Union and Constitution, UK government
- Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Scottish Government
- CBI Wales
- Chambers Wales
- Children's Commissioner for Wales
- Federation of Small Businesses, Wales
- Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
- Future of Devolution and Work Commission, Wales TUC
- Independence Commission, Plaid Cymru
- Institute of Directors, Wales
- Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service
- Older People's Commissioner for Wales
- Wales Council for Voluntary Action
The commission is holding technical workshops to consider some issues in more depth. To date, these have covered the current devolution settlement; fiscal devolution; and engagement. Future workshops will include further examination of fiscal devolution.
Engagement
On 31 March, the commission launched a call for evidence - Have your say: the constitutional future of Wales
To date (as at 19 April 2022), the commission has received 607 completed responses. These will inform the content of the commission's interim report. The co-chairs were interviewed for The Times, BBC Politics Wales, Vaughan Roderick's Sunday Supplement, and Wales Cast, with the commission featured across 10 stories on the day. The number of followers of the commission's Twitter channel increased by 38% (from 346 followers to 477) with 98% positive sentiment rating. The most popular commission tweet was a graphic setting out options to consider for the future (1,422 engagements and over 33,000 impressions). The commission's webpage received 541 page views.
The commission is developing a fuller engagement strategy, which will aim to engage with a wide cross-section of society in Wales.
Reporting
The commission will publish an interim report by the end of 2022, and its full report, including recommendations, by the end of 2023.