Cut recommendations, Senedd committees told

TENSIONS over parliamentary scrutiny have emerged after First Minister Eluned Morgan told Senedd committees to make fewer recommendations to the Welsh Government.

- CHRIS HAINES

Ms Morgan wrote to Elin Jones - the Senedd’s speaker or Llywydd - over the summer, expressing concerns about the volume of committee recommendations.

She said: “We need to be realistic about our ability to deliver committee recommendations and of the need to consider... the context of the limited resources which are available. If the current volume continues, the government is likely to need to reject more recommendations.”

In the letter, the First Minister stressed she was not seeking to fetter the critical work of Senedd scrutiny committees in holding the Welsh Government to account.

But Senedd Members have rebuked Ms Morgan, arguing it is not for ministers to tell scrutiny committees how to do their work.

During a meeting of the public accounts committee, Labour's Mike Hedges partly agreed with the First Minister. “I think committees produce far too many recommendations,” he said. “But it’s not for the First Minister to say how many recommendations she wants.”