The story so far

The Commission was launched at the end of 2021 to look at constitutional options for Wales’ future and started a national conversation with Welsh citizens on how their country is run.

Our ambition as a Commission has been to do things differently, by putting engagement at the heart of our work and ensuring the general public have every opportunity to engage through surveys, a community engagement fund and numerous public events.

Between November 2021 and November 2022 we listened to views, opinions and evidence on how Wales is run. In December 2022, we published our interim report, which provides an account of this first phase of our work.

We heard from:

• Over 2,500 Welsh citizens
• Around 1,000 people have taken part in community engagement activities
• We have held 15 sessions to collect evidence
• We have held 5 workshops with professionals and experts
• We have run 24 meetings and workshops with different groups and forums.

In the interim report, we set out that the ‘status quo’ is not a viable option for providing stability and prosperity for Wales. The report also set out three feasible and alternative constitutional routes for how Wales could be run that could improve the lives of the citizens of Wales. These were:

• Devolution: strengthened and secured
• A federal structure
• Independence

You can read more about these options here.

After our interim report was published at the end of 2022, our engagement changed to focus on these three options to help us understand what the general public thought about each one. To do this, we:

• Ran the Have Your Say survey, which received over 1,000 responses
• Hosted two live Q&A events online, giving the public the chance to ask their question directly to Commissioners
• Held roadshow events in each of the 22 counties across Wales
• Attended a variety of public engagement events, including Hay Festival and the Eisteddfod
• Engaged with a variety of community groups and other organisations to help increase awareness of the Commission’s work. We ran research projects, which held deliberative discussions with citizens panels across Wales and surveyed 1500 people in Wales
• We commissioned additional survey work which took into account citizen views across all nations – England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales

Final report

The final report has been published and concludes that independence, a federal system and enhancing devolution are all viable options for Wales’ future. It also recommends further powers are needed immediately in specific areas of justice, policing and rail infrastructure, to meet the needs of people in Wales.

The report finds that changes to inter-governmental relations are needed, as well as significant changes to the way the Welsh Government is funded, to ensure that devolution improves accountability as well as service delivery for the people of Wales. You can read the full report here.

The final report was presented to the Prif Weinidog and Welsh Government in January 2024. The findings of the report are now being considered and will inform the ongoing debate about constitutional change in Wales and the wider UK.