Item 6 this afternoon is the motion to amend Standing Orders on proxy voting, and I call on a member of the Business Committee to move the motion—Siân Gwenllian.

Motion NDM8240 Elin Jones

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 33.2:

1. Considers the report of the Business Committee, ‘Amending Standing Orders: Proxy Voting’, laid in the Table Office on 22 March 2023.

2. Approves the proposal to amend Standing Order 12, as set out in Annex A of the Business Committee’s report.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd, and it’s a pleasure for me to speak this afternoon on an issue that is a signal that we are taking a further step in the creation of a modern, progressive, inclusive Senedd we can all be proud of. The Business Committee by majority view has agreed to propose a number of changes to the Senedd’s proxy voting scheme. The Business Committee is proposing these changes in order to futureproof the options available to Members and to provide Members who are absent from proceedings, for a range of reasons, with a means to express their views on the decisions before the Senedd.

Now the existing temporary provisions did cover parental leave, but parental leave only, and I had direct experience of this, and held a proxy vote for Adam Price in the last Senedd, and Dai Lloyd did so on behalf of Bethan Sayed too. So, it’s positive today that Business Committee is now proposing that these provisions should be made permanent, and, in doing so, we are also proposing that the length of proxy voting for this purpose should be amended to a period of seven months for both partners.

The Business Committee is also proposing that the Senedd agrees to extend proxy voting to include cases where a Member is absent from the Senedd for other reasons—three other reasons specifically. Firstly, absence because of long-term illness or injury; secondly, absence because of caring responsibilities, which make it a requirement for them to be absent from the Senedd; and, thirdly, for reasons of bereavement.

The Business Committee proposes that a proxy vote to cover long-term illness or injury or for caring responsibility should be one that could last for at least four weeks, with a maximum of six months. If a Member were to be absent because of bereavement, the length of the proxy vote period is to be agreed between the Member and the Llywydd. These proposed changes would ensure that the proxy voting provisions in this Senedd would go further than the provisions currently made in any one of the other UK Parliaments. I'm very proud of that, and it's a clear sign of our willingness here in Wales to create a caring and inclusive workplace in our national Parliament.

The committee also proposes that the Llywydd should hold discretion to vary the arrangements when required, in response to individual circumstances. The committee is also of the opinion that proxy voting should have equal status with a vote cast directly by a Member, and, as such, it's proposing that restrictions on the types of votes are removed and proxy voting is permitted in all forms of voting in Plenary and in the Committee of the Whole Senedd.

The Business Committee has agreed to review these provisions before the end of the sixth Senedd, so I urge you to approve these changes to our Standing Orders.

I actually want to speak against the proposals before the Senedd today, not because I don't support the need to facilitate both short- and long-term leave for parents, for those who are sick or injured or with caring responsibilities or because of a bereavement, but because we have a system that has served this Senedd for over two decades, which has worked exceptionally well in order to provide leave for those purposes. It's called the pairing system. It's worked in parliaments for many hundreds of years, including here in the United Kingdom, and indeed in Wales it has served us very, very well.

I think it's worth just recognising that we're not employees; as Members of the Senedd, we're elected representatives. We're elected into public office, and I don't think that trying to compare us to employees in the way that is proposed by these reforms, if you like, by giving certain rights to Members for proxy votes, is an appropriate thing to do. So, whilst fully supporting the need to facilitate leave for parents when they need it, for those with caring responsibilities, and for those who have suffered a bereavement, I do think that those things can be achieved and have been achieved successfully through the pairing system, and, for that reason, I urge Members today to vote against these unnecessary proposals.

I am a member of the Business Committee, and we have rehearsed these issues before, including Darren Millar's position that the pairing system actually fulfils the issues we're trying to address. It doesn't address or fulfil those issues for somebody like myself, who is a sole Member. I cannot pair with another Member for a long period of time, because there will be different times for different votes. So, it doesn't work for sole Members, and, going forward, in an expanded Senedd, we may have further sole Members. Therefore, I fully support this proposal. It is bringing us into the twenty-first century. It will make sure that people who are carers, who are parents, who are parents to be, and those suffering from ill health, have the opportunity to have time from the Senedd when they don't need to worry about representation or about the business of the Senedd. And that's what a compassionate, caring Parliament should be about. So, I welcome this proposal. It is about a modern Senedd, and I urge you all to support the Business Committee's proposal here today. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I call on Siân Gwenllian to respond to the debate.

Thank you very much, and I'll respond to the comments on the pairing system, because this is what has taken the attention of the Business Committee as well. Pairing is an informal arrangement, of course, where Members can pair and both Members don't vote at all, so there is no record of their vote. Voting by proxy allows that Member to record a vote through having another person vote on their behalf, so it's more democratic, in my opinion. Pairing is a practice, but it doesn't happen all the time. It is a practice, I believe, in this Senedd that the Government and the opposition can make pairing arrangements, but, in the last Senedd, Plaid Cymru Members weren't paired. By now, we are. Because of the the co-operation agreement, there are pairing arrangements in place. But it doesn't follow that pairing happens on every occasion and, of course, when you have a sole Member, well that perhaps isn't going to be possible, although, of course, it is possible to request pairing arrangements under those circumstances as well. So, we're talking here about situations where Members are away for extended periods. Pairing is still a practice that can happen from week to week, but when a Member needs to be away for an extended period for the reasons that have been mentioned, proxy voting is a much more robust arrangement, it's more formal, and it's a recognition, isn't it, that we are a place that has modern working practices. We're not an employer, but surely we need to set an example of the way in which we wish to work and treat each other in this place.

The proposal is to amend Standing Orders relation to proxy voting. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes, I've heard an objection. I will therefore defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.