The Welsh Assembly Cross-Party Group on Co-operatives and Mutuals is registered with the Table Office of the Assembly as an official Cross-Party Group, and was first registered during the Third Term (in August 2009).
Alex Bird, the then Chair of Co-operatives & Mutuals Wales, initiated the Group, and held the Secretariat for the first six years until August 2015, working closely with the first three Chairs, David Melding AM, Vaughan Gething AM and Mick Antoniw AM.
The CPG met some initial reticence from members of the Co-operative Party, largely because the Assembly already had an active and influential Co-op Party Group, and they felt it would be unnecessary duplication, so the CPG was initially Chaired by a Conservative AM, David Melding, who was and remains a strong supporter of the co-operative movement.
Cross Party Groups (CPGs) are a politically neutral space in our system of government, that enable politicians, public servants, interest groups and the public, to have a discourse without fear of any accusations of political bias being directed at the public servants. CPGs have to have members from at least three separate political parties, and must comply with the Welsh Assembly’s rules on transparency and reporting.
Secretariat for the Group has now changed. Wales Co-operative Centre (now known as Cwmpas) have now taken over the Secretariat and can be contacted on 0300 111 5050 or via their website https://cwmpas.coop/
Both Groups remain active, and fulfil their separate roles.
All the meetings from 2009 to 2015, until the Secretariat role was taken over by the Wales Co-operative Centre, have been documented here.
Case Study – Welsh Assembly CPG on Co-ops
The Group has been supported over time by a large number of Senedd Members from all 4 major parties
More details are available here:-
https://business.senedd.wales/mgOutsideBodyDetails.aspx?ID=771