Article by Alys Thomas, National Assembly for Wales Research Service
The Government of Wales Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”) creates an Assembly Commission: a body that provides services to support Assembly Members, which is legally distinct from the Welsh Government. The 2006 Act provides for the establishment, membership and functions of the Commission and for it to provide the National Assembly (or to arrange for the National Assembly to be provided) with the staff, property and services required for its purposes. Appointment of Commission Members The Commission consists of the Presiding Officer and four other Assembly Members. After an Assembly election the National Assembly must consider a motion tabled by the Business Committee proposing the names of the four Members to be appointed as members of the Commission under the Act. So far as is reasonably practicable, members of the Commission (other than the Presiding Officer) must belong to different political groups. If there are four or more political groups in the National Assembly, it is for the leader of each of the four largest political groups to inform the Business Committee of the name of the nominee from their political group. If there are fewer than four political groups in the Assembly the leader of each political group must inform the Business Committee of their nominee and the Business Committee will determine the name of any additional Members to be nominated. If there are two or more political groups with the same number of members, the Presiding Officer, having regard to the level of electoral support of each of the political groups in question, determines which of those political groups is to be regarded as the larger.
