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An evidence session was cancelled after four of the five politicians who sit on a committee were unable to attend, leaving the Senedd no choice but to postpone the meeting.

The Senedd’s petitions committee was due to meet this afternoon (October 20) as part of a short inquiry into the impact of the Hafod landfill site on people living nearby in Wrexham.

But the meeting had to be pulled at the 11th hour after Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher, Labour’s Vaughan Gething, Tory Joel James and independent Rhys ab Owen all sent apologies.

The Conservatives sent Gareth Davies as a substitute for Mr James but Carolyn Thomas, the Labour chair of the committee, was the only other politician in attendance.

Under the Senedd’s rules or standing orders, committee meetings must be cancelled if fewer than three members or less than a third of members are present. Meetings must also be cancelled if only one political group is represented by members.

Some committees – including finance, legislation and standards – currently have only four members, regularly putting meetings at risk due to roadworks or sickness absence.

‘Inquorate’

Ms Thomas said: “I have received apologies from Luke Fletcher, Vaughan Gething, Joel James and Rhys ab Owen. Gareth Davies is attending as a substitute for Joel James.

“However, as there are fewer than three members present, this meeting is inquorate under standing order 17.31 which requires at least three members to be present – so all business from today’s meeting will be rescheduled to a future meeting.

“We are next due to meet on November 10, so apologies and I will have to close the meeting until next time. Diolch.”

The danger of committees lacking enough members to ensure sufficient scrutiny was one of the core drivers behind plans to expand the Senedd from 60 to 96 members from May 2026.

Labour’s Mike Hedges, who chairs the Welsh Parliament’s legislation committee and sits on three others, has consistently expressed concerns about inadequate numbers.

Last year, he warned a meeting of the public accounts committee would have been declared inquorate if he had gone to the toilet. “You cannot run an organisation like that,” he said.