Welsh Assembly

Welsh Assembly (Welsh, Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru), devolved representative body with legislative and executive powers for Wales within the United Kingdom, created in 1999 and based at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay.

The Assembly develops and implements policy within a wide range of areas for Wales, including agriculture, culture, education, environment, health, housing, local government, social services, sport, tourism, transport, and the Welsh language, and accordingly allocates the funds made available to it from the UK Treasury courtesy of the Secretary of State for Wales. As a UK Cabinet member, the Secretary of State for Wales ensures that the interests of Wales are considered within the UK Government, and takes through Parliament legislation that relates specifically to Wales. Both the Secretary of State and MPs from Welsh constituencies continue to sit in the House of Commons, while laws passed by Parliament in Westminster still apply to Wales. From May 2007 the Assembly will be able to make its own legislation, known as assembly measures, in those limited areas for which it has responsibility without going through Parliament. The present Secretary of State for Wales is Peter Hain.

The 60-seat Assembly is elected every four years, and each member of the electorate has two votes. The first vote elects one of 40 local or constituency members on a “first-past-the-post” basis. The second vote, known as the Additional Member System, is a form of proportional representation and elects 20 further members on a regional basis, thus ensuring that the overall number of seats for each political party reflects their share of the total vote. There are five electoral regions (Mid and East Wales, North Wales, South Wales Central, South Wales East, and South Wales West), and each region returns four members to the Assembly.

The Assembly elects a presiding officer to act as chair, and the current presiding officer is Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas. Executive powers are delegated to the First Minister, who is elected by the whole Assembly and usually represents the largest political party. The First Minister delegates responsibility to Assembly ministers who form the Cabinet, which is accountable to the rest of the Assembly. The current First Minister is Rhodri Morgan. A series of subject and regional committees allow members from all parties a say in how the Assembly operates.

The move towards a National Assembly for Wales began in 1997 with a Government White Paper, A Voice for Wales, which was endorsed in a referendum on September 18, 1997. The Government of Wales Act 1998 established the National Assembly for Wales and the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999, which enabled the transfer of devolved powers and responsibilities from the Secretary of State for Wales to the Assembly. The first elections to the Assembly were held on May 6, 1999, and its first meeting took place six days later.

On St David's Day, 2006, the Welsh Assembly’s Senedd building was officially opened, having cost £67 million and taken eight years to complete. The Assembly’s temporary home since 1999 had been the Pierhead building, Cardiff.