The role and responsibility of a Member of the Senedd

What is a Member of the Senedd?

The Senedd is made up of 60 Members of the Senedd. Elections are held in May every five years. Elections are held in May every five years. Members of the Senedd are elected to represent a specific area of Wales as members of a political party (for example: Conservative, Labour, Plaid Cymru or Welsh Liberal Democrat) or as independent members.

What does a Member of the Senedd do?

Members of the Senedd carry out the Senedd’s democratic work; they represent the interests of Wales and its people, make laws for Wales and hold the Welsh Government to account.

The Welsh Government is formed following an  election, and is made up of up to 12 Ministers plus the First Minister. The Government is usually formed from the largest political party or a partnership of parties.

Members of the Senedd meet twice weekly when the  is in session to discuss issues of importance to Wales and its people. They meet in Plenary, where Members ask questions to Welsh Government Ministers, debate issues such as Government policies and committee reports and examine Welsh laws. Opposition parties can have debates on issues of their choice, usually on a Wednesday, and are allocated on the relative size of their parties in the is in session to discuss issues of importance to Wales and its people. They meet in Plenary, where Members ask questions to Welsh Government Ministers, debate issues such as Government policies and committee reports and examine Welsh laws. Opposition parties can have debates on issues of their choice, usually on a Wednesday, and are allocated on the relative size of their parties in the ..

Members of the Senedd also meet in committees that have been set up by the  for specific tasks. These include examining laws, scrutinising policy, running the for specific tasks. These include examining laws, scrutinising policy, running the ’s business and carrying out other tasks.’s business and carrying out other tasks.

Through committees, the Senedd is able to carry out more work more quickly and Members are able to specialise in particular fields. The membership of  committees usually roughly matches the overall representation of the parties within the

The Senedd decides which Members should be on a committee.  Other Members of the Senedd can usually attend committee meetings, but they are not able to vote. Committees can choose to meet in private when necessary, but most committees meet in public. Anyone can watch these meetings from the public galleries in the Senedd, or on the ’s Senedd.tv website.

Scrutinising the work of the Welsh Government

One of the most important roles for Members of the Senedd is to examine what the Welsh Government does. This involves debating policies, asking detailed questions about policies and Government actions, holding inquiries into specific issues or the work of public bodies and holding Ministers to account in the .

This monitoring role is carried out in two main ways: through Plenary meetings, when the  meets in full; and through a range of committees. meets in full; and through a range of committees.