A PARLIAMENT THAT WORKS FOR WALES

The Assembly must exercise restraint in the way it makes use of any increase in the size of the institution—for example in relation to the number and size of committees, the appointment of office holders, and the maximum size of the Welsh Government—in order to ensure that the potential benefits for the quality and quantity of scrutiny are realised and additional costs are kept to an absolute mini. [...] The Fifth Assembly Commission, drawing on the work of its predecessors, announced in November 2016 that it intended to lead work to explore the use of these powers in order to address the capacity of the Assembly.2 Acting on behalf of the institution, in February 2017 the Llywydd and the Commission announced the establishment of an Expert Panel on Assembly Electoral Reform.3 1 National Assembly fo. [...] The remit we have been given is: To review, and complement if necessary, the existing evidence and research relating to the size and electoral arrangements for the National Assembly; From that evidence base, and in order to inform the preparation of any necessary legislation, to make recommendations to the Assembly Commission on what should be the size of the membership of the National Assembl. [...] In the announcement, the Llywydd emphasised the changing role of the Assembly as it has matured and developed since 1999 and the need to: …take the opportunity not just for the important symbolic act of changing the name of the institution, but also for more fundamental reform of our electoral and internal arrangements. [...] In 2004, the Richard Commission, in the context of its recommendations that the executive and legislature should be formally separated and that the Assembly should be given primary law-making powers, recommended that the size of the Assembly should be increased to 80 in order to provide sufficient capacity to be able to respond to the uncertain challenges ahead.10 Peter Price, a member of the Rich.