William Powell AM
Chair
Petitions Committee
National Assembly for Wales
17 April 2015
Dear William,
Thank you for informing me
of the committee’s interest in the petition relating to the
Board’s proposals for Assembly Members’ salaries in the
Fifth Assembly (Ref: P-04-613). I confirm the petition has already
been discussed by the Board as part of its decision-making process,
and will be considered again when we meet to finalise our decisions
in April.
The Board has undertaken a consultation on salaries, and recently
on the whole package of remuneration and support for AMs (including
salaries), which would come in to effect after the Assembly
Election in 2016. We intend to publish our final Determination
for the Fifth Assembly and an accompanying report in May
2015.
On the specific issue of salary we reached our judgement of what
was appropriate after considering a wide range of evidence on pay
and remuneration in Wales and in other Parliaments. A number
of responses to our consultation on AM salaries, which was issued
in November 2014, said that our proposed base salary was too high
and/or that it was not the right time to set higher salaries for
AMs, given the economic context. We took in to account the
petition, media coverage and a variety of social media reaction to
our proposal.
We also considered:
· the extent to which the powers and responsibilities of AMs are increasing substantially and merit a full revaluation;
· the burden on Members in a small single chamber legislature of effective law-making and efficient scrutiny of government;
· the impact of the proposed increase in MPs salaries on existing and future comparability;
· the reduced cost to the taxpayer – and increased cost to AMs – of changes in the AM pension scheme;
· the pay differentials between London and Cardiff.
After a thorough review, we felt that the salary that we proposed was the right figure for the role and responsibilities that Assembly Members will have in the Fifth Assembly. Consequently, we retained our proposal for the consultation on the whole package. We also agreed that AM salaries should be annually adjusted to reflect the changes in average wages in Wales (whether up or down).
The Board will now review all our decisions at our April meeting, in the light of our consultation on the Draft Determination. We intend to publish the final Determination in May.
Regards,
Sandy Blair CBE DL
Cadeirydd / Chair
Bwrdd Taliadau/Remuneration Board