Internet Newsletter for Lawyers |
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In July 1997, the Government published its White Paper, A Voice for Wales with its proposals for devolution in Wales. These proposals were endorsed in the referendum and then Parliament passed the Government of Wales Act 1998, which established the National Assembly for Wales, and the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999. This enabled the transfer of the devolved powers and responsibilities from the Secretary of State for Wales to the Assembly.
The elections for the first National Assembly were held on 6 May 1999. The first plenary meeting of the Assembly took place on 12 May 1999, when members elected the first Presiding Officer, Deputy Presiding Officer and First Minister of the Assembly.
The National Assembly for Wales Website began its life in October 1999.
From the outset, it was decided that the site would be a major communication tool. This is shown by the importance we place on making the Record of Proceedings (our Hansard) available on the web to strict deadlines. It was also decided that all the regular business of the Assembly would be available on the bilingual website and, in particular, there is a commitment to publish all cabinet minutes within 6 weeks of meetings.
The site currently publishes about 1,000 new documents a month - a major task, managed by specialist teams each in editorial control of their own content. The site now attract over 22,000 visitors a day.
The main sections of the site provide:
* News: press releases and specialist news services such as foot & mouth and ministerial briefings.
* Publications: legislation, the Record, consultation papers.
* Subject index: documents grouped by topic.
* Organisation index.
* Public Information section.
* Themes section, e.g. Cymru-Ar-Lein, our ICT strategy for Wales (Information and Communications Technology).
These sections are not mutually exclusive and there are many appropriate cross links. The majority of sub sections of the site also have in-section searching, although overall searching remains a problem area. We have many planned improvements of which the most important from the legal profession's point of view will be improved indexing of documents, particularly legislation.
The Standing orders of the Assembly place certain slightly different duties on Wales's lawmakers. The first is that both language versions of SIs have equal standing under the law. If you look at the web site you will see that the legislation in draft form is moving towards being presented with Welsh and English language versions side by side. This is the drafting team's working copy - vital for checking that all connotations of wording in both languages are fully appreciated.
The second is the issue of what is known in Wales as Standing Order 27 legislation, i.e. legislation made other than by statutory instrument. This relates to some of what is loosely termed in England "grey paper" publications.
The current provision of legislation on the web includes
* Draft SIs that are before the Assembly - these are archived under date but not removed.
* Local SIs (draft and in force) - these are also archived.
* Details of Standing Order 27 Legislation.
* Search facilities.
What is not included is the archive of Welsh legislation in force (with the exception of foot & mouth orders). Currently the site links to the HMSO site for Welsh Legislation), but we may in the future link to BAILII and other public resources. This is an area, which will be decided having regard to the views received from Caroline Kirby and her colleagues in the Law Society.
The legislation displays are still very rudimentary and need a great deal of work to improve and make a resource for the legal practitioner. The Assembly is working on a project plan to start to make this happen, so expect to see considerable changes in the next year.
It was very apparent that keeping everyone up to date on what was happening in relation to Foot & Mouth was vital, and that the web could play a great part in this effort. The Assembly brought forward a planned development for a news service with email "push" facilities and repurposed it for Foot & Mouth. We also organised a team to work on the web; this team had a membership of agriculture, communications and legal specialists. Through a mix of maniacally devoted staff and good technology we managed to get any made SI available on the web site within about 20 minutes of being signed by the Presiding Officer (no mean feat since a lot of the orders were signed late at night). Although the service was rough and ready I think it has shown us all what we can achieve and it has encouraged us to develop more services for specialist interest groups.
* Keep refining the search facilities.
* Improve keywording and indexing.
* Improve the linking between different parts of the site to make it easier to cross- search from debate to draft and final documentation.
* Keep developing the content.
* New content. We have a very full program of development for new content types and areas. Coming very soon will be a recruitment web and information on PFI in Wales.
* Legislation displays will be enhanced, and we are very committed to improving our indexing to make it easier to find your way round the growing volume of information. We also want to tackle the thorny issue of version control and consolidation.
* Interactive services. We have specialist news services for the business and farming community but expect to see most subject areas becoming much more interactive over the next year.
* Responsiveness. The site now has feedback forms, which relay correspondence back to the many content teams around the Assembly. We want to speed up and streamline our communications via the web.
* New ways of consulting. We want to use the web to make it easier to consult fully when developing policy. Expect to see the whole format and style of the consultation process changing.
The Assembly is developing their policy on how to improve ICT across Wales. This should help to deal with some of the current difficulties in accessibility that professionals face when accessing the web. Expect to see significant policy decisions in this area. The aim is to
* Develop the ICT infrastructure in Wales.
* Make sure that senior officials, professionals and business leaders understand the opportunities and benefits of investing in ICT.
* Improve the ICT skill base in Wales.
The web site will only improve if we keep getting good ideas and quality feedback from our users and we welcome all comments (good and bad) and suggestions for improvements. Please contact the webmaster or use the feedback boxes on the site to send your comments to the teams involved.
Ann Hemming has been webmaster at the National Assembly for Wales but is now moving to another job where she can be contacted at ann.hemming@hjfs.co.uk. Webmaster queries for the National Assembly for Wales should be addressed to webmaster@wales.gsi.gov.uk.
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