As we all know by now, the solution to every problem in Wales is to form a committee. The more serious committees are called commissions or conventions instead.
The recent announcement of a new Welsh Government-backed constitutional commission chaired by Prof. Laura McAllister and The Rt Rev. Rowan Williams has generated a lot of buzz; given the credentials and profiles of the chairs that’s to be expected. I don’t think there’s any question that this is going to be a serious piece of work even if there’s some confusion over the terms of reference.
Nevertheless, the sobering reality is that Wales is currently averaging a commission to look at the Senedd’s powers, electoral reform or constitutional reform roughly once every three to four years. Yes, that often.
That’s before including the other non-constitutional committees, conventions and commissions – for example, the Diamond Review (student finance), the Senedd-commission review into digital media and the Burns Commission (Newport bypass alternatives).
What everyone needs to keep in mind before they get too excited about the latest commission is the poor track record we have in Wales of turning pages in a report into real things.
- Report: Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery (pdf; Oggy Bloggy Ogwr summary).
- Chaired by: Sir Paul Williams.
- Tasked with: A general review of how the public sector delivers services in light of budget pressures with a view towards a wider reform of local government.
The remit of the Commission was fairly broad and took in the delivery of public services as a whole and public engagement, but the debate was largely focused on changes to the local government map.
22 unitary authorities in Wales – introduced in 1996 – had long been seen to be too many. The Commission concluded that delivery of public services was far too complex and local authorities should be merged to between 10-12.
While that got the publicity, there were plenty of other recommendations including integration of health and social care, a merger between Cadw and Royal Commission of Ancient & Historical Monuments, changes to fire authorities, general improvements to scrutiny and openness in the public sector and increased co-production (where the public sector and citizens develop services together).
Outcome: Very few of the Williams Commission recommendations have become a reality. Local government hasn’t been reformed and the emphasis has shifted from structural reform to greater collaboration between existing organisations (such as corporate joint committees) – arguably making existing governance structures more complex. Scrutiny and accountability in the public sector arguably haven’t improved that much. I would be annoyed at the Senedd, rather than the Commission (whose time and efforts were wasted).
Verdict: Unsuccessful.
