Rejected petition Fully screen potential public sector workers for any racist tendencies or bigotry.
Prevention is better than cure. Having racist people in positions of power or responsibility in the public sector is detrimental to BAME citizens across Wales. We would like more rigorous screening procedures to be implemented in Wales so that people with racist tendencies or people who are bigoted are unable to work in the public sector by law.
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the Senedd or Welsh Government is not responsible for.
The Government of Wales Act 2006 establishes the extent of the Senedd’s power to make new laws and amend existing law (also known as legislative competence). Schedules 7A and 7B of the 2006 Act set out the issues which are ‘restricted’ or ‘reserved’ - i.e. areas where the UK Parliament, not the Senedd, can legislate.
Paragraph 187 of Schedule 7A reserves ‘equal opportunities’ to the UK Parliament. This is defined as: “the prevention, elimination or regulation of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds, or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation or social origin, or of other personal attributes, including beliefs or opinions, such as religious beliefs or political opinions, but not including language”.
As the purpose of legislating to introduce a mandatory screening procedure would be to prevent discrimination of persons on racial grounds, it is not possible for the Senedd to take the action called for by your petition.
Further information about the legislative powers of the Senedd can be found here:
https://senedd.wales/en/abthome/role-of-assembly-how-it-works/Pages/Powers.aspx
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards
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