Government of Wales Act 1998

Offices and committees

52 Presiding officer and deputy

(1) The Assembly shall elect from among the Assembly members—

(a) the presiding officer, and

(b) the deputy presiding officer.

(2) The offices specified in subsection (1) shall be known by such titles as the standing orders may provide (but are referred to in this Act as the presiding officer and the deputy presiding officer).

(3) The presiding officer and the deputy presiding officer may not be Assembly members who represent the same party.

53 Assembly First Secretary and Assembly Secretaries

(1) The Assembly shall elect one of the Assembly members to be Assembly First Secretary or Prif Ysgrifennydd y Cynulliad.

(2) The Assembly First Secretary shall appoint Assembly Secretaries, or Ysgrifenyddion y Cynulliad, from among the Assembly members (and may at any time remove a person from office as an Assembly Secretary).

(3) The standing orders must specify the maximum number of Assembly Secretaries that may be appointed.

(4) The Assembly First Secretary, and each of the Assembly Secretaries, is a Crown servant for the purposes of the [1989 c. 6.] Official Secrets Act 1989.

54 Committees

(1) The Assembly—

(a) shall establish the committees which it is required to establish by the following provisions of this Part, and

(b) may establish any other committees which it considers appropriate.

(2) The members of any committee established by the Assembly under subsection (1)(b)—

(a) shall be elected by the Assembly from among the Assembly members, and

(b) shall, unless the committee exists solely to provide advice, be elected so as to secure that, as far as is practicable, the balance of the parties in the Assembly is reflected in the membership of the committee.

55 Sub-committees

(1) Any committee of the Assembly may establish one or more sub-committees.

(2) The members of any sub-committee established by a committee of the Assembly shall be elected by the committee from among Assembly members who are members of the committee.

(3) A committee of the Assembly, other than the executive committee, shall not elect as members of a sub-committee Assembly members who all represent the same party.