Vaughan Gething among Senedd Members who failed to attend evidence session over Hafod Landfill

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

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

However, the meeting had to be cancelled at the last minute after Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher, Labour’s Vaughan Gething, Conservative Joel James, and independent Rhys ab Owen all sent their apologies.

Only Two Members Present

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 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 called off if only one political group is represented by members.

Some committees — including finance, legislation, and standards — currently have only four members, which regularly puts meetings at risk of cancellation due to roadworks or sickness absence.

“Inquorate” Meeting

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.”

Broader Concerns Over Committee Capacity

The issue of committees lacking enough members to ensure sufficient scrutiny has been one of the key arguments 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 repeatedly raised concerns about the strain on members.

Last year, he warned that a public accounts committee meeting would have been declared inquorate if he had left the room briefly.

“You cannot run an organisation like that,” he said.