The National Assembly for Wales (NAfW)

The National Assembly for Wales (NAfW) is the legislature in Wales. It is made up of 60 Assembly Members (AMs); elections for AMs have taken place every four years so far (although there may be a change in future to ensure that the Assembly elections do not clash with other elections) and each voter can cast two votes. Of the 60 elected members 40 represent constituencies and are elected using a ‘first past the post’ system based on each voter’s first vote; the constituencies are currently the same as those that elect MPs to Westminster. The other 20 AMs represent regions and are elected using a form of proportional representation based on each voter’s second vote which is cast for a political party not an individual. The electoral regions are North Wales; Mid and West Wales; South Wales East; South Wales West and South Wales Central. You are therefore equally represented by your constituency AM and 4 regional AMs. Click here to find out which 5 AMs represent you.

NAfW's role is to hold the Government to account and scrutinise and make legislation. This can involve scrutinising the way in which Welsh Ministers discharge their functions; scrutinising and approving the budget; scrutinising subordinate legislation and making and scrutinising laws. This is done via plenary sessions and via committees. Plenary sessions take place on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and are the decision making and law making forum of the NAfW. A committee is a group of Assembly Members (AMs) who meet to scrutinise policy and legislation.

NAfW is administered by the Assembly Commission.

NAfW have their own website where lots of information about them and the legislative process can be found. This is different to the Welsh Government website, so make sure you're using the right one.

Relationship with the third sector and opportunities for influence

There is no formal relationship between the third sector and the National Assembly for Wales. However, there are many opportunities for the third sector to influence the NAfW and feed into its work. These include:

· Using the petitions process - a straightforward way of getting your voice heard and raising awareness about your issue

· Contributing to committee inquiries - a good way of bringing your experience, expertise and organisational evidence to bear

· Lobbying individual Assembly Members - if they support your issue they could help you in your campaign or bring forward legislation proposals

· Registering as an expert with the Members Research Service (part of the Assembly Commission)

· Suggesting ideas for legislation - this could come through the petitions process, or laws can be proposed by the Government, Assembly Committees or Assembly Members who win the private Members ballot.