The next item on our agenda is motions to agree membership of committees. There are 13 motions under this item and they will be discussed together. I call on a member of the Business Committee to move the motions—Simon Thomas.

Motion NDM6061 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Hefin David (Welsh Labour), John Griffiths (Welsh Labour), Julie Morgan (Welsh Labour), Llyr Gruffydd (Plaid Cymru), Mohammad Asghar (Welsh Conservatives), Darren Millar (Welsh Conservatives) and Mark Reckless (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Children, Young People and Education Committee.

Motion NDM6062 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Jayne Bryant (Welsh Labour), Vikki Howells (Welsh Labour), Huw Irranca-Davies (Welsh Labour), Jenny Rathbone (Welsh Labour), Sian Gwenllian (Plaid Cymru), Simon Thomas (Plaid Cymru) and David Melding (Welsh Conservatives) as members of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee.

Motion NDM6063 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Hannah Blythyn (Welsh Labour), Dawn Bowden (Welsh Labour), Jeremy Miles (Welsh Labour), Lee Waters (Welsh Labour), Dai Lloyd (Plaid Cymru), Suzy Davies (Welsh Conservatives) and Neil Hamilton (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee.

Motion NDM6064 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Hannah Blythyn (Welsh Labour), Hefin David (Welsh Labour), Vikki Howells (Welsh Labour), Jeremy Miles (Welsh Labour), Adam Price (Plaid Cymru), Mark Isherwood (Welsh Conservatives) and David J. Rowlands (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee.

Motion NDM6065 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Rhianon Passmore (Welsh Labour), Jenny Rathbone (Welsh Labour), Joyce Watson (Welsh Labour), Sian Gwenllian (Plaid Cymru), Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru), Janet Finch-Saunders (Welsh Conservatives) and Gareth Bennett (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee.

Motion NDM6066 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Dawn Bowden (Welsh Labour), Jayne Bryant (Welsh Labour), Julie Morgan (Welsh Labour), Lynne Neagle (Welsh Labour), Rhun ap Iorwerth (Plaid Cymru), Angela Burns (Welsh Conservatives) and Caroline Jones (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee.

Motion NDM6067 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Dawn Bowden (Welsh Labour), Jeremy Miles (Welsh Labour), Eluned Morgan (Welsh Labour), Steffan Lewis (Plaid Cymru), Suzy Davies (Welsh Conservatives), Mark Isherwood (Welsh Conservatives) and Michelle Brown (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Reserve Policy and Legislation Committee.

Motion NDM6068 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Dafydd Elis-Thomas (Plaid Cymru), David Melding (Welsh Conservatives) and Michelle Brown (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee.

Motion NDM6069 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Mike Hedges (Welsh Labour), Eluned Morgan (Welsh Labour), David Rees (Welsh Labour), Steffan Lewis (Plaid Cymru), Nick Ramsay (Welsh Conservatives) and Mark Reckless (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Finance Committee.

Motion NDM6070 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Neil McEvoy (Plaid Cymru), Janet Finch-Saunders (Welsh Conservatives) and Gareth Bennett (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Petitions Committee.

Motion NDM6071 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

Mike Hedges (Welsh Labour), Rhianon Passmore (Welsh Labour), Lee Waters (Welsh Labour), Rhun ap Iorwerth (Plaid Cymru), Mohammad Asghar (Welsh Conservatives) and Neil Hamilton (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Public Accounts Committee.

Motion NDM6072 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

1. Dafydd Elis-Thomas (Plaid Cymru), Paul Davies (Welsh Conservatives) and David J. Rowlands (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Standards of Conduct Committee, and

2. John Griffiths (Welsh Labour) for Jayne Bryant (Welsh Labour), Llyr Gruffydd (Plaid Cymru) for Dafydd Elis-Thomas (Plaid Cymru), Andrew R.T. Davies (Welsh Conservatives) for Paul Davies (Welsh Conservatives) and Michelle Brown (UKIP Cymru) for David J. Rowlands (UKIP Cymru) as alternate members of the Standards of Conduct Committee.

Motion NDM6073 Elin Jones

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales, in accordance with Standing Order 17.3, elects:

1. Jayne Bryant (Welsh Labour), John Griffiths (Welsh Labour), Mike Hedges (Welsh Labour), Huw Irranca-Davies (Welsh Labour), Lynne Neagle (Welsh Labour), David Rees (Welsh Labour), Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru), Dai Lloyd (Plaid Cymru), Simon Thomas (Plaid Cymru), Russell George (Welsh Conservatives), Nick Ramsay (Welsh Conservatives) and Mark Reckless (UKIP Cymru) as members of the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister; and

2. Ann Jones (Welsh Labour) as Chair of the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister.

Motions moved.

I move.

I therefore call on Mark Reckless to speak.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I understand no-one has ever objected, previously, in the history of the Assembly to the establishment of the committees. However, UKIP are not beholden by that prior consensus. We intend to vote today against the establishment of the policy and legislative committees on the basis agreed by the other business managers. The reason we do this is that equality, 4:4, does not constitute party balance. The secretariat of the Business Committee initially advised us that it did not constitute party balance. What changed on that—[Interruption.] I’m back. On that, nothing changed.

However, the other parties did a deal with Labour to give way on that point in exchange for some plum committee chairmanships, particularly in respect of Plaid, who chair not just the Finance Committee but two policy and legislative committees. Thanks to that, the combined opposition will not be able to amend Bills against the Government. That great victory of Leanne Wood in Rhondda, which reduced Labour from equality 30 in the Assembly to just 29 against 30 of combined opposition, and with no longer a Liberal Democrat group and with the Liberal Democrat Member only entitled to one committee place were she to wish to take it up, that is a very substantive change in what this Assembly is because we cannot amend legislation in committee were the opposition to be united on any particular course against the Government. That has been given away, I would assert, in return for a number of plum chairmanships.

UKIP will not be party to that deal. We will, however, treat the arrangements agreed by others with respect. We will chair our committee in a considered way on the basis of the evidence and we will contribute to all committees to the best of our ability. Thank you.

I note at the end there that UKIP are opposing the membership of the committees but are taking up the chairmanship of a committee, which has been very beneficial to them. The fact that—every Member must know this—we have an Assembly with 60 Members, 29 from the Government and 31 from the opposition, means that you cannot replicate 29 and 31 on committees of eight. You have to go to a system called D'Hondt. We beat D'Hondt last week in the Belgium game, but we don’t want to go there, I don’t think. D'Hondt would have meant that UKIP, in fact, did not have a member on every committee. It would have, in fact, meant that UKIP often did not have a member on committees. Now, Plaid Cymru support—

Will the Member give way?

Certainly, I’ll give way.

D'Hondt wouldn’t have meant anything of the sort. Even on a committee of seven, UKIP would have had one member according to D'Hondt.

You’re simply incorrect. You’d have 0.7 member. That’s what D'Hondt would have worked out for you. On a smaller committee, you would not have had a member—for example, public accounts or finance, which you have members on.

Will the Member give way again?

Not now. I’ve responded to your question. Plaid Cymru’s response to this has been very clear. We want to see political balance across the committee structure. We think it’s very important that opposition Chairs are in charge of vital committees such as finance and public accounts, and we think it’s equally important that we have arrangements on policy and legislative committees that actually deliver workable Welsh law. At the end of the day, the committees are there to scrutinise and to undertake several stages of legislation, but all legislation comes back to this Assembly, where we have a job of work to do. If we do unite as an opposition, we can vote down the Government on all legislation, and I’m sure we will if we can reach agreement on those issues. But what’s very important, I think, is we have workable committees and good, effective Chairs, independently elected for the first time. This is a big step forward for the strengthening of this Assembly as a proper parliament, and it’s in that spirit that Plaid Cymru has agreed to these arrangements. It also means, yes, what have been described as ‘plum committee Chairs’—I would more describe as important, political chairships—are in the hands of opposition parties, and I think that is important as well, particularly when we come to scrutiny of finance and health. These are all things that will revitalise, I hope, the way that our committees work in the Assembly. For that reason, I ask the Assembly to support them so that we move on with our committee work.

I propose therefore that the votes on the motions to elect members to the seven policy and legislation committees are grouped unless there are any objections to that. The proposal, therefore, is to agree the motions for elections to the seven legislation and policy committees. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will, therefore, defer voting on these motions until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.

I now move to motions to elect members to the other six specialist committees. Unless there are any objections, I propose that the votes on the motions to elect members to the six specialist committees are grouped. The proposal is to agree the motions. Does any Member object? As there are no objections, these motions are agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.