Plans to rename Welsh Assembly to Senedd or Parliament

A consultation has been launched on changing the name of the National Assembly for Wales.

The power to change the name is part of a series of extra responsibilities being handed to Cardiff Bay as part of the UK government's Wales Bill.

Presiding Officer Elin Jones said the assembly should either retain its name or change it to Senedd or Parliament.

A name change would help inspire the "confidence, trust and pride" of the people the assembly serves, she said.

AMs agreed in July that the assembly should change its name, inviting the presiding officer and the commission to consider the implications.

Ms Jones rejected the suggestion that consulting on a name change amounted to AMs "navel-gazing".

"Most AMs are not spending their time discussing the name," she told BBC Wales.

"They've been actively involved in scrutinising government on education results this week.

"This is just a part of what we're doing to build this place into a proper parliament, to scrutinise those very issues about performance in the health sector, performance in education."

'Blurred picture'

A consultation document said the assembly commission - the body of senior AMs that run the affairs of the organisation - wants the name of the institution to contribute to a wider public understanding of its role.

Changes to how devolution works - with new law making powers conferred on AMs in 2011 through a referendum and the separation of the Welsh Government - "have created a rather blurred picture about where power and accountability in Wales now lies", it reads.

It cites an opinion poll in 2013 which suggested 69% of those surveyed knew less than a fair amount about the role of the assembly.

"Through the range of engagement programmes undertaken by the assembly we know that the people of Wales do not currently fully grasp the role and the powers of the National Assembly for Wales," the document said.

Could these AMs become MWPs, or MSs?

There have been calls made for the assembly to be renamed the Welsh Parliament for a number of years, with Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies saying in 2012 the assembly was a parliament "in all but name".

On Thursday, Mr Davies said it was time to brand the assembly "as a proper Welsh parliament - strengthening the distinction between legislature and executive, while giving it the accolade the people of Wales afforded it in the 2011 referendum".

The Welsh language word Senedd is currently used to refer to the building that houses the assembly chamber.

The word is also used in Welsh to refer to the UK Parliament.

Under the proposals, assembly members would be renamed if the assembly changes its name.

If the assembly became the Senedd, AMs would become Members of the Senedd (MS).

There are many options suggested if the name changed to Parliament of Wales, or Welsh Parliament.

The consultation document proposes Member of the Parliament of Wales (MPW), Wales Parliament Member (WPM) or Member of Senedd Cymru (MSC), which is the Welsh translation of Welsh Parliament.

The spring of 2018 is the earliest that a bill to change the name of the assembly could be passed, the consultation document says.

'Out of step'

One dissenting voice is independent AM and UKIP MEP Nathan Gill.

"Changing the name of the 'assembly' just (shows) how out of step the Cardiff Bay establishment are with public opinion, and with the voters they claim to represent," he said.

Mr Gill did not vote against the name change motion in July, which was carried unanimously.