Students visit Senedd to discuss devolution with Lord Elis-Thomas

tudents from Cardiff University’s innovative new course ‘Devolution in Practice: Work Placement Module’ visited the Senedd in Cardiff Bay this November for a special seminar session.

As part of the event, students attended First Minister’s Questions, which serves as the highlight of the Assembly’s week. This is the full plenary session during which opposition party leaders and backbench Assembly Members are able to question the First Minister.

Following First Minister’s Questions, the students took part in a seminar with Lord Elis-Thomas AM. As the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly in the period 1999-2011, Lord Elis-Thomas chaired the weekly First Minister’s Question session and now participates as a backbench Assembly Member. He also participated in Prime Minister’s Questions as an MP between 1974 and 1992.

Dr Einion Dafydd, the module convenor, interviewed Lord Elis-Thomas and students posed questions on a range of issues including the broader purpose of First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd and Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, the functioning of the National Assembly, and the future of devolution.