Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 11:"Page 17, line 27, at end insert ““not belonging to the same political group””" The noble Lord said: My Lords, under this amendment we consider the Assembly commission. It is important to recognise why we have tabled this very simple amendment. Clause 27 on page 17 of the Bill sets out what the Assembly commission is all about. It says that there will be an Assembly commission and that,"““The members of the Assembly Commission are to be—      (a) the Presiding Officer, and      (b) four other Assembly members””." Standing orders also come into play. The Assembly commission has many responsibilities. It is very important that it is independent of the Assembly Government as it will deal with, for example, the payment of civil servants. Schedule 2 refers to many responsibilities of the Assembly commission. In Scotland it was felt that there should be all-party participation in such a body. When one examines the responsibilities of the commission, it becomes quite clear that it is desirable to have overall representation on it; so when we say,"““not belonging to the same political group””," the four other members to whom we refer would be in that category and would be from different political parties. Amendment No. 12 is tabled by the Opposition and is very similar to this amendment. I beg to move.