Devolution won’t work if it is a minority interest

With a new institution it is possible to keep score of progress

POLITICAL friends say that one of the least effective ways to communicate with them is through an annual report. Some have told tales of elected members – not themselves, of course – who automatically bin unread anything report-shaped that turns up in a brown A4 envelope. Such an approach is probably forgivable, bearing in mind the weight of their postbags. But there is always the danger, of course, that among the range of documents they perceive are irrelevant to them there is a key report from which they would derive a great deal.

Such a document is the latest annual report of the National Assembly for Wales. Anyone interested in Welsh politics and political engagement should take the trouble to read it – and not just the politicians. It is one of the most professional documents which the Assembly (as opposed to the Welsh Assembly Government) has yet produced. Glossily packaged and sprinkled liberally with images of the Presiding Officer, it seeks to offer an overview of what the institution has achieved over the past year or so. In this aim it is wholly successful.

Even for the seasoned Assembly watcher, there are a myriad of facts and figures that are guaranteed to impress. In terms of outfacing engagement, let’s just marvel for a moment at the 23,688 children who visited the Assembly, or offer a round of applause for the 257 external events held there (although quite how many of which included my participation does not bear contemplation).

On an Assembly business level, one can only be impressed with the nearly 5,000 oral questions tabled, and the near five million words published through the Record of Proceedings. When the Assembly first started, only full plenary sessions were transcribed, and the committees where the Assembly does most of its work had to rely on scant minutes to record their deliberations. It is a sign of the maturity of the body that it has now expanded its transcribing facility to encompass all its formal meetings, committees included. Such a step has been vital in offering the chance for real external engagement and was a vital staging post in the Assembly’s growth. There is currently a debate around the decision to no longer translate in writing the Assembly’s proceedings from English to Welsh, though the vice versa translation will of course continue. Such a step shouldn’t worry anyone. It would be far more concerning if the Assembly, looking to make cost savings as is the rest of the public sector, decided instead to reduce what it recorded.

Indeed, although the report’s focus on the increased legislative output of the Assembly is interesting to fully-fledged anoraks, it is the way that the Assembly engages that interests most. The document makes a very telling statement: “There is no doubt that in years to come, the past year will be seen as a time when democratic institutions across the UK were challenged to be more transparent, more accountable and more responsive to the expectations of the electorate”. This is indeed true. The furore around AMs’ and MPs’ expenses has created a climate in which perception of political institutions and politicians is perhaps more critical than ever before. Yet most of the striking things described in this report were well in train before the scandals hit, and they are not a reaction to them. It is serendipity that the two have coincided.

To achieve this, the use of new media is striking. A friend reminded last week that the Assembly is the only one of the devolved legislatures where the Members have access to computers in the chamber. It makes you think again: valuable tools like that are so often seen with tired eyes as, quite literally, part of the furniture. But they are something far more. As any AM will attest, their access to email in the Chamber is not a luxury, it is a necessity in being well informed and accessible.

And it sets the tone within which further use of the new social media is encouraged and supported. Without a doubt, the Assembly’s own website is now far more navigable than ever before, while the live webcasting service has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. New innovations like ePetitions have broadened the range of ways the public can interreact, promoting a huge rise in the number of petitions being submitted; while other technological applications like “quick vote” facilities for online committee consultations are reshaping the way the institution engages on direct topics.  The Health, Well-being and Local Government Committee’s enquiry into presumed consent achieved a breakthrough here, with online evidence gathering accompanied by 900 questionnaires distributed to school children through the Assembly’s education service.  This clearly mixed the new social media with more structured forms of dialogue with the public. At the time of writing, a further innovation is underway, with the Sustainability Committee utilising video evidence from the public in order to broaden its understanding of the human impact of flooding. To borrow an almost unfortunate metaphor here, the floodgates are well and truly open.

This year was also the year that the Assembly decided that it is its own best ambassador. The Presiding Officer himself used the Assembly’s tenth anniversary to “up the ante” and embark on a series of visits across Wales with the specific aim of leading better engagement with a range of harder-to-reach groups such as black and ethnic minority communities and disabled people. In this context the appointment of Assembly liaison officers to help increase public understanding and engagement seems totally natural, as was the decision to purchase an outreach bus. It was an acceptance, led from the top, that more needed to be done to reach out and inform.

For those who have watched the institution grow from a fledgling a decade ago, the changes in 2009-09 have been noticeable. The pace of change has quickened. There has always been a recognition that more needed to be done to take the Assembly to the people as well as bring people to the building. But it is only in the last year that there has been a sense that public engagement has been planned and quantified. In the last year, the Assembly has taken its boldest steps yet to engage in a systematic and informed way.

However, there is more to do. The Presiding Officer, in his introduction to the report, makes this clear: “Devolution cannot work if it is a minority interest”.  It must keep reaching out. So the bus rolls on, the committees make more use of vox pops, the website keeps getting more interactive, and the Assembly starts using more virtual and actual reference groups. If next year improves engagement even half as much as this year, then the danger of minority interest will soon be long past.