English: I'd like to thank Joyce Watson for her comments here today, and I sympathise very much with the comments that the Member has made. And what I would say in reply to that is that the issues that Joyce Watson has raised today fall mainly under the code, the code of conduct, which was subject to significant consultation and discussion in the latter half of the last Senedd, and the review that was made of the code then. This committee intends to allow that code time to bed in and to review it at a later point in this Senedd, to ensure that it remains fit for purpose, which is, of course, good practice, and to address any issues that may have arisen. And I note the Member's comments, and they can be fed into that review. And, as Joyce Watson has correctly identified, the appeals process was never really intended for the way in which Joyce would have liked to have had the opportunity to have used it. In fact, any appeals could previously only have been made on very narrow procedural grounds, and were conducted entirely on the written representation of the Member who was complained about and existing papers related to the complaint. In fact, we found, in the fifth Senedd, that when the appeal process was utilised for the first time, concerns were expressed about how costly that appeal process was and, actually, that it had the potential to be abused by Members seeking to delay the outcome of the process. The most recent appeal, for example, took 11 weeks from the Member having received the committee's report to receipt of the decision on the independent, legally qualified person to be received. And, as the right of appeal was unqualified at the point of commencement, there was no sanction for making an appeal that is without merit. The process could potentially have been used by a Member, not in the way that Joyce would have liked to have used it, but actually to delay a final decision, for example, in the case of a complaint arising towards the end of a Senedd term. And I would end by saying also that just under half of the respondents to our consultation agreed that that appeals process should be removed, and there's also no appeals process in Scotland.
Welsh: Hoffwn ddiolch i Joyce Watson am ei sylwadau yma heddiw, ac rwy'n cydymdeimlo'n fawr â'r sylwadau a wnaed gan yr Aelod. A'r hyn y byddwn yn ei ddweud mewn ymateb i hynny yw bod y materion y mae Joyce Watson wedi'u codi heddiw yn berthnasol i'r cod yn bennaf, y cod ymddygiad, a fu'n destun ymgynghoriad a thrafodaeth sylweddol yn ystod hanner olaf y Senedd ddiwethaf, a'r adolygiad o'r cod a gafwyd bryd hynny. Mae'r pwyllgor hwn yn bwriadu rhoi amser i'r cod hwnnw ymsefydlu, a'i adolygu yn nes ymlaen yn y Senedd hon, i sicrhau ei fod yn parhau i fod yn addas i'r diben, sy'n arfer da, wrth gwrs, ac i fynd i'r afael ag unrhyw faterion a allai fod wedi codi. A nodaf sylwadau'r Aelod, a gellir eu cynnwys yn yr adolygiad hwnnw. Ac fel y mae Joyce Watson wedi'i nodi'n gwbl gywir, nid oedd y broses apelio erioed wedi'i bwriadu i gael ei defnyddio yn y ffordd y byddai Joyce wedi hoffi cael y cyfle i'w defnyddio. Mewn gwirionedd, dim ond ar seiliau gweithdrefnol penodol iawn y gellid bod wedi gwneud unrhyw apeliadau yn flaenorol, ac fe'u cynhaliwyd yn gyfan gwbl ar sylwadau ysgrifenedig yr Aelod y gwnaed y gŵyn amdanynt a phapurau a oedd yn bodoli eisoes yn ymwneud â'r gŵyn. Mewn gwirionedd, yn y pumed Senedd, pan ddefnyddiwyd y broses apelio am y tro cyntaf, canfuom fod pryderon wedi'u mynegi ynghylch pa mor gostus oedd y broses apelio honno, ac y gallai gael ei chamddefnyddio gan Aelodau i geisio gohirio canlyniad y broses. Ar gyfer yr apêl ddiweddaraf, er enghraifft, cymerodd 11 wythnos ar ôl i'r Aelod dderbyn adroddiad y pwyllgor i'r unigolyn annibynnol a oedd wedi ymgymhwyso yn y gyfraith ei dderbyn. A chan fod yr hawl apelio yn ddiamod ar gychwyn y broses, nid oedd unrhyw sancsiwn am wneud apêl nad oedd iddi deilyngdod. Gallai'r broses fod wedi cael ei defnyddio gan Aelod, nid yn y ffordd y byddai Joyce wedi hoffi ei defnyddio, ond i ohirio penderfyniad terfynol, er enghraifft yn achos cwyn yn codi tuag at ddiwedd tymor Senedd. A hoffwn gloi drwy ddweud hefyd mai ychydig llai na hanner yr ymatebwyr i'n hymgynghoriad a oedd yn cytuno y dylid dileu'r broses apelio honno, a hefyd nad oes proses apelio yn yr Alban.