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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Ministers accused of evading scrutiny
November 12, 2007 12:00 AM
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member, Peter Black, has complained to the Presiding Officer that key Ministers have turned down invitations to attend scrutiny committees to answer questions on the Assembly's budget.
The Local Government Minister has told Committee Clerks that he is unavailable to appear before the Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee this week, the last opportunity that those AMs will have to quiz him on his spending plans before the final budget is laid. Similarly, the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government and the Deputy Minister for Housing have declined the invitation to appear before the Communities and Culture Committee on Wednesday to answer the numerous questions that members have on their budgets, not least regarding affordable housing, community safety and Communities First.
Commenting on the non-appearance, Mr. Black said: "It is not as if Ministers can claim that they did not expect to be invited, after all they set the budget timetable so they should have ensured that their diaries were kept free. We have been given just two weeks to ask detailed questions but there is nobody to answer them on important government commitments. Even the newly created Finance Committee is of no help because the Finance Minister told them that it is for individual ministers to answer questions on their own portfolios. In some cases that is not happening.
"This whole business leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, giving the impression that Ministers are evading effective scrutiny or at best do not think that it is important enough to change their diaries. If this is the way that the One Wales government plans to proceed in the future then I fear for the future of our fledgling democracy. If Committees need to use their powers to summon Ministers to appear before them then it does not give a very good account of the attitude of the Government to this Assembly and the devolution project."
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