Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 14 November 2017.

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Photo of Leanne Wood Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru 2:18, 14 November 2017

And I think we can take it, First Minister, that once that information becomes available you'd be prepared to share it with the Assembly as well. Following last week, there are questions over how we can ensure that disclosures are dealt with in a way that's fair to everyone involved. Now, I've found myself asking: how do we as political parties have the resources and the trained personnel to deal with allegations and to operate in a transparent way, or could they be dealt with in a more independent way in the future? An independent and neutral authority might be more trusted, more impartial, more transparent than political parties are able to be. 

Now, the office of the Standards Commissioner may not have the resources at present to deal with disclosures of harassment or other misconduct in full. There's also a question about sanctions—what kind of sanctions could be placed on people. Do you believe that the office of the Standards Commissioner could be equipped with better resources, and that they should also look at meaningful sanctions to deal with such disclosures?