Creating a petition

Petitioning is one of the most direct ways to suggest how something could change. Petitions can:

• Raise awareness of an issue;
• Bring about a change in Welsh Government policy or a different way of delivering services;
• Propose or influence a new law;
• Prompt a Senedd Committee to hold an inquiry;
• Lead to, or influence, a debate in the Senedd;
• Prompt a Committee or individual Members of the Senedd to take further action themselves, for instance by asking questions.

You can submit a petition using our online petitions system, on paper, or a combination of the two.

Petitions from other websites are not accepted by the Petitions Committee.

If you are considering collecting signatures on paper, you should contact us in advance for advice. A template can also be provided.

How petitions work

1. You create a petition. Only people or organisations with an address in Wales can create a petition.
2. You get 2 people to support your petition. We’ll tell you how to do this when you’ve created your petition.
3. We check your petition, then publish it in Welsh and English. We only reject petitions that don’t meet the standards for petitions (see below).
4. People can only sign a petition once. If they sign the petition online, they will be sent an email to verify their signature. People cannot sign both an online and a paper petition.
5. The Petitions Committee reviews all petitions that collect over 250 signatures. They will decide what they can do to help take the petition forward. This can include exploring the issue and pressing for action from the Welsh Government and others.
6. If your petition gets over 10,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee will consider asking for a debate in the Senedd chamber. The Committee will consider a number of factors, including the issues raised by the petition, the urgency of the situation and the proportion of signatures which come from within Wales.

The Petitions Committee

As part of their consideration of your petition, the Petitions Committee can:

• write to you for more information;
• invite you to talk to the Committee in person about the petition;
• ask for evidence from the Welsh Government or other relevant people or organisations;
• press the Welsh Government for action;
• raise the petition with another Senedd committee;
• put forward the petition for debate;
• run a detailed inquiry and publish a report on the topic.

Standards for petitions

You can submit a petition on any issue that is the responsibility of the Senedd or the Welsh Government.

Petitions must call for a specific action from the Senedd or Welsh Government.

Petitions can disagree with the Welsh Government and can ask for it to change its policies. Petitions can be critical of the Senedd or Welsh Government.

We reject petitions that don’t meet the rules. If we reject your petition, we will tell you why. If we can, we will suggest other ways you could raise your issue.

We’ll have to reject your petition if:

• It calls for the same action as a petition that’s already open, or one which was closed by the Petitions Committee less than a year earlier;
• It doesn’t ask for a clear action from the Senedd or Welsh Government;

• It’s about something the Welsh Government or Parliament is not responsible for;

  That includes: something that your local council is responsible for (including planning decisions); something that the UK Government or Parliament is responsible for; and something that an independent organisation has done.

• It contains language which is offensive, intemperate, or provocative. This not only includes obvious profanities, swear words and insults, but any language which a reasonable person would regard as offensive;
• It contains potentially false or potentially defamatory statements;
• It refers to a case that’s active in the UK courts;
• It contains material that is prohibited from being published by an order of a court or a body or person with similar power;
• It accuses an identifiable person or organisation of a crime;
• It contains material that could be confidential or commercially sensitive;
• It could cause personal distress or loss;
• It names individual officials of public bodies, unless they are senior managers;
• It names family members of elected representatives or officials of public bodies;
• It’s an advert, spam, or promotes a specific product or service;
• It’s nonsense or a joke;

• It concerns an issue for which a petition is not the appropriate channel.

  That includes: correspondence about a personal issue and petitions which ask for someone to be given a job, lose their job or resign, or which call for a vote of no confidence.

We publish the text of petitions that we reject, as long as they’re not:

• defamatory, libellous or illegal in another way;
• about a case that is active in the UK courts or about something that a court has issued an injunction over;
• offensive or extreme;
• confidential or likely to cause personal distress; or
• a joke, an advert or nonsense.

You can find the full rules governing the petitions process here.

If you have any other questions, please get in touch.