Northern Ireland Assembly Flax Flower Logo

ASSEMBLY AND EXECUTIVE REVIEW COMMITTEE

Minutes of Proceedings
TUESDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2007
Room 144, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

Present:
Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson, MP (Chairperson)
Mr Raymond McCartney (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Alex Attwood
Mrs Carmel Hanna
Mr Danny Kennedy
Mr Ian McCrea
Mr Alan McFarland
Ms Carál Ní Chuilín
Mr George Robinson

In Attendance:
Mrs Debbie Pritchard (Principal Clerk)
Mr Stephen Graham (Assembly Clerk)
Ms Sinead Nash (Assistant Clerk)
Mr Keith McBride (Clerical Supervisor)
Ms Lynn Gray (Clerical Officer)

Apologies:
Mr Nelson McCausland

The meeting opened at 11:00am in public session.

  1. Apologies

Apologies are detailed above.

  1. Draft Minutes of Proceedings of meeting held 2 and 3 October 2007

Agreed: The Committee agreed the minutes of the meetings of 2 and 3 October 2007.

  1. Matters Arising
3.1 Efficiency Review Panel / NSMC Review Group: Meeting with Special Advisers to the First Minister and deputy First Minister

Members noted that the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson met with the Special Advisors to the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 8 October and that a further meeting will take place with the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

Members noted that OFMdFM will prepare a paper in advance of the proposed meeting, in the context of the St Andrews Agreement Act 2006 and relevant sections of the St Andrews Agreement, about the reviews, or actions, which fall to OFMdFM or the Assembly to take forward including matters relating to the Efficiency Review Panel and the NSMC Review Group.

Agreed:

11:04am Carál Ní Chuilín joined the meeting
11:08am Alan McFarland joined the meeting
11:12am Carmel Hanna and Alex Attwood joined the meeting

3.2 Arrangements for Committee Meetings

The Committee noted the paper on the business commitments facing Members.

Agreed:

3.3 Oral evidence with the Secretary of State

Members noted that a comprehensive letter has been sent to the Secretary of State’s office covering the matters which were not addressed at the evidence session.

Agreed:

  1. Chairperson’s Business
4.1 Northern Ireland Court Service

Members noted the letter of thanks received from the Director of the Court Service, Mr David Lavery.

Members noted that additional information on ‘departmental models’ has been received from the Court Service and the office of the Lord Chief Justice.

Agreed:

4.2 Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

Members noted that a working lunch has been arranged with the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in the Members Private Dining Room on Tuesday 16 October from 1pm until 2pm.

Members were asked to confirm their attendance and Carál Ní Chuilín indicated that she would be unable to attend because of her Business Committee commitments.

  1. Inquiry into the devolution of policing and justice

The following interests were declared:

Jeffrey Donaldson:

George Robinson:

Ian McCrea:

Identification of Policing and Justice matters which are currently reserved matters

This session was recorded by Hansard.

Members discussed which Policing and Justice matters are currently reserved matters.

Agreed:

Matters to be transferred

Members proceeded to discuss the matters to be transferred according to the categories detailed in the NIO Discussion Document (February 2006).

Members noted there is currently no provision in the Northern Ireland Act 1998 under which the Assembly could request the transfer of an ‘excepted’ matter.

Members also noted that the Committee awaits a response from the NIO, SOCA and the Security Services with regard to the issue of accountability and lines of communication.

Agreed:

Members then proceeded to discuss, in turn, those matters on which no consensus had been reached during the deliberations of the Committee on the Programme for Government.

Criminal Law and Creation of Offences and Penalties

(Para 9(a) & (b) Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

Prevention and Detection of Crime

(Para 9(c) Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

11:48am Carál Ní Chuilín left the meeting

Treatment of Offenders

(Para 9(e) Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

Public Order

(Para 10 Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

The Police and the Policing Accountability Framework

(Para 11 Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

Co-operation between the PSNI and the Garda Siochána in relation to a specific series of matters

(Para 11 Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

Firearms and explosives (Para 12 of Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

The Courts (Paras 14A, 15 and 17 of Schedule 3 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998)

Agreed:

  1. Draft Press Release

Members agreed the terms of the press release.

  1. Date, time and place of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 16 October at 10.30am in the Senate Chamber, Parliament Buildings.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 1.02 pm.

RT HON JEFFREY DONALDSON, MP
Chairperson, Assembly and Executive Review Committee
16 October 2007

03 October 07 / MENU