The Digital News and Information Taskforce

Part of 3. Questions to the Senedd Commission – in the Senedd at 3:08 pm on 1 March 2023.

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Photo of Sioned Williams Sioned Williams Plaid Cymru 3:08, 1 March 2023

(Translated)

Thank you for that response, Llywydd. Clearly, our democracy has progressed a great deal, even since 2016, with young people of 16 and 17 years of age now having been given the vote in Senedd elections, but it appears that other aspects have made retrograde steps—more local newspapers and journalist positions having been lost. And on the basis of a survey carried out by this group recently, the figures in terms of the understanding of our citizens of the governance arrangements of Wales are concerning to say the least: 35 per cent of respondents believed that the Conservatives had Ministers in the Welsh Government since the May 2021 election; 44 per cent believing that Plaid Cymru had Ministers; and 78 per cent of respondents couldn't name a single policy introduced in Wales over the past year, when they think of the Senedd and the Welsh Government.

Do you agree that it's crucial for the health of democracy in Wales that there is a broad understanding among the public of the basics of how democracy works, for example, how power related to their lives is exercised, what party is in Government and what are the different responsibilities of the various levels of government? What more can the Commission and Senedd do, therefore, to develop their role as a producer of content and stories, in line with one of the main demands of the taskforce report to influence the population-level understanding of the work of the Senedd and how power is exercised and who exercises that power? Thanks.