2. Election of the Deputy Presiding Officer under Standing Order 6

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:56 pm on 12 May 2021.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 3:56, 12 May 2021

Diolch, Llywydd. Can I first of all thank those who nominated and seconded my position? I very much appreciate and accept the nomination.

I suppose Members here—two thirds of you know who I am and know my experience. For the other third, I don't know you, but I will get to know you, whichever way, in the next five years, and I'm sure we'll work together well. Those who know me will understand that I've been fortunate to be Chair during the two terms I've been in the Senedd, and I hope that I've demonstrated, during that time, my fairness and my ability to ensure that every Member has the opportunity to scrutinise whoever is in front of us and ensure that Governments are held to account and that the people who deliver for Governments are held to account—because that is our role as a Senedd.

Our role is to ensure that the Government tells us and is held to account by us for what they do and the policies they enact. Those who were there will understand that, in the last Senedd, when I chaired the external affairs committee, we clearly highlighted the fact that we ensured that this place, the Senedd, was centre of everything we should be doing. That works with other Parliaments as well, and that is crucial as we move forward.

When I was seeking support for this position, I was asked, 'Why do you want to do this?', 'Why don't you want to be a Chair, as you have been, and take policies forward?' I thought carefully about it and I thought, 'Actually, you're quite right; it's very good to be a Chair and to scrutinise Government.' But then I remembered, actually, this role allows me to ensure that every Chair, every Member, has the ability to scrutinise Government effectively and to take that scrutiny forward. I want to make sure we can do that. I want to make sure that, as we move forward and we take the reforms we started in the last Senedd and continue with them, we improve this Senedd to ensure that it can scrutinise Government effectively, to ensure that we take the Government to task when they get it wrong, and praise the Government when they get it right. That's the role of the Senedd. We represent people who have given us their trust, last Thursday, to do exactly that, and that's what I want to make sure we do.

As Deputy Presiding Officer, I will work, hopefully, closely with the Llywydd, but also take the agenda forward of how we can extend the diversity we have here. I'm very delighted to see we have the first lady of colour here, and her father was the first man of colour here, but we should be expanding that. You should never be the last one. We want more. Our job is to diversify what's in here now, and extend it.

And also to look at the youth agenda. The Llywydd, in the last Senedd, brought in the Youth Parliament. We all applauded it, but only 40 per cent in my constituency actually registered to vote, of the 16 and 17-year-olds. We need to engage, and I think part of the DPO's role will be to work with the Llywydd to actually get that engagement out there, to build this place up so we build a Senedd for generations to come.

I've been reading the documents from Laura McAllister and 'A Parliament that Works for Wales'. That's the role we have. We have to build a Parliament that works for Wales. And Dawn Bowden's committee on Senedd reform highlighted the same thing. If you don't mind, I'll quote from her report. It's her foreword—so, Dawn, these are your words:

'The powers devolved by the Wales Act 2017 over the Senedd’s electoral and institutional arrangements offer us opportunities to revitalise and reinvigorate participation in our democratic processes, and to ensure that our Senedd has the capacity it needs to serve the people and communities of Wales.'

The people and the communities that elected us last Thursday to represent them. That's what I want to see happen, and as Deputy Presiding Officer I want to work with the Presiding Officer to ensure that we can achieve that goal, to ensure that the people of Wales are proud of this institution and it delivers for everybody in Wales. Thank you.