The Welsh National Assembly was established in 1999.

Number of Members of Parliament 

60
 

Length of the parliamentary mandate
Four years (exceptionally the current term has been extended to 5 years until 2016).

Mode of selection of the Members of Parliament
Each registered voter has two votes. The first vote is for a local constituency Member. A Member is directly elected for each of the 40 constituencies in Wales by the “first past the post” system, i.e. the candidate with the greatest number of votes wins the seat. The second vote is to elect a regional Member. In this context, a form of proportional representation known as the “Additional Member System”, where voters vote for a political party, is used to elect the remaining twenty Members to the Parliament. For further information, see here (EN). 

Population included in the constituency of the regional parliament  
3.100.000 inhabitants.

1. Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
2. List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament 
3. Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
4. Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny  
5. Subsidiarity check
6. Cooperation/coordination at the regional level  
7. Cooperation/coordination at the central level  
8. Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level 
9. Cooperation/coordination at the EU level 

1. Agriculture, forestry, animals, plants and rural development;
2. Ancient monuments and historic buildings;
3. Culture;
4. Economic development;
5. Education and training;
6. Environment;
7. Fire and rescue services and fire safety;
8. Food;
9. Health and health services;
10. Highways and transport;
11. Housing;
12. Local government;
13. Welsh National Assembly;
14. Public Administration;
15. Social welfare;
16. Sport and recreation;
17. Tourism;
18. Town and country planning;
19. Water and flood defense;
20. Welsh language.
 

Non-legislative:
The main non-legislative competences include inter alia the nomination of the regional First Minister and the control of the Welsh Government. For further information, see the Government of Wales Act (link above). 

List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament  
The following committees for the fourth Assembly (2011-2016) were agreed by the Assembly's Business Committee on 21 June 2011:
 Public Accounts;
 Finance;
 Constitutional and Legislative Affairs;
 Petitions;
 Standards of Conduct;
 Children and Young People;
 Environment and Sustainability;
 Health and Social Care;
 Communities, Equality, and Local Government;
 Enterprise and Business.
For further information, see here (EN).

• The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee.

Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny  
The Assembly's subsidiarity monitoring work is usually undertaken by two members of the Research Service, a legal advisor from the Assembly's Legal Services along with the Head of the Assembly's EU Office.

Subsidiarity check  
Nature (selective/systematic): Systematic.  

Procedure: The Welsh Government forwards EU draft legislation and copies of the Explanatory Memoranda (which reflect the UK Government's views on the legislative proposals) to the Assembly's Research Service. Assembly officials monitor all draft EU legislative proposals that apply to Wales on a systematic basis to check whether they raise any subsidiarity concerns. This process involves the following steps:
- In the first instance, the Assembly's Research Service filters the Explanatory Memoranda as soon they are received from the UK Government with an aim of checking whether the proposals referenced are “legislative” or “non-legislative” in nature and whether they encompass issues which are within the legislative competence of the Assembly.
- Those Explanatory Memoranda that relate to proposals that are “legislative” and deal with issues of interest to the Assembly are subsequently checked in detail by officials from the Assembly's Legal Service, its Brussels Office and the Research Service to see if they raise any potential subsidiarity concerns. These checks take place as soon as possible to ensure that any possible concerns are raised within the eight-week window.
- If a proposal is deemed to raise a subsidiarity concern, Assembly officials alert the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee immediately; thereafter Members will be asked to consider whether or not the Committee should ask either or both Houses in the UK Parliament to issue a “reasoned opinion” on the proposal to the European Commission.
- Those relevant proposals which are “legislative” and relate to devolved matters but raise no subsidiarity concerns are collated in a monitoring report produced by the Research Service, which is considered as a paper of note by the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee three times a year (Autumn [September-December], Spring [January-April] and Summer [May - August]).


Cooperation/coordination at the regional level  
Since 2010, the Welsh Government forwards to the Research Service EU draft legislation and copies of the Explanatory Memoranda on which the UK Government has consulted the Welsh Government and which include its views on legislative proposals. This is an informal arrangement and is not underpinned legally by any cooperation agreement.

Cooperation/coordination at the central level 
No formal coordination exists between the Assembly and the UK Parliament on a systematic basis. Contact with the House of Commons and the House of Lords only occurs in instances where the Assembly wishes to ask the UK Parliament to issue a “reasoned opinion” on a specific EU proposal. Indeed, the National Parliament (NP) is the principal interlocutor with the European Commission. The timescale for such transmission is set by the respective chamber of the NP. If the NP agrees with the Assembly's report, it will refer to the latter in any reasoned opinion on subsidiarity to the European Institutions. Moreover, secretariat staff in the NP emails the regional parliaments if draft acts/explanatory memoranda raise potential subsidiarity concerns. 

Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level 
No formal mechanisms exist at present to coordinate the subsidiarity monitoring work of the UK's devolved legislatures. Information is, however, regularly shared informally between officials in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in relation to proposals which may raise subsidiarity concerns.

Cooperation/coordination at the EU level  
No formal coordination exists between the Assembly and other regional parliaments in the EU. Details of any concerns raised by the Assembly in relation to EU draft legislation, however are sent informally by the Assembly's Brussels Office to officials at the Committee of the Regions' Subsidiarity Monitoring Network, who may then publish details of the concerns on the REGPEX website. This happens as soon as possible after the Assembly's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee has adopted its position.
Moreover, the Assembly has a general role in promoting Welsh interests amongst the EU institutions. This includes talking directly to the European Commission, the European Parliament (in particular the four Welsh MEPs), the Welsh representatives to two EU consultative bodies - the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee (experts representing interests in various sectors) - and participation in formal and informal EU networks.
To support the work described above and to provide a flow of regular intelligence from Brussels, the Assembly has a dedicated EU Office in the European capital. The EU Office is located in Wales House in the heart of the European quarter in Brussels, together with the representations of the Welsh Government, the Welsh universities, and the Welsh Local Government Association. Through the EU Office, the Assembly has regular contacts with representatives of other regional parliaments, such as the Bavarian State Parliament.
Moreover, the Assembly participates in CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies).