ASSEMBLY AND EXECUTIVE REVIEW COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
THURSDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2010
ROOM 152, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Present:
Mr Jimmy Spratt (Chairperson)
Mr Raymond McCartney (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Simon Hamilton
Mr Alan McFarland
Mr Alex Maskey
Mr Ian Paisley Jnr
In Attendance:
Mr Stephen Graham (Assembly Clerk)
Mr Vincent Gribbin (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Miss Tara McKee (Clerical Supervisor)
Miss Paula McManus (Clerical Officer)
The meeting opened at 11.13 am in closed session.
1. Apologies
Alex Attwood Nigel Dodds Danny Kennedy John O’Dowd Declan O’Loan
2. Minutes of Proceedings of meeting held on 23 February 2010
Members agreed the Minutes of Proceedings of the meeting held on 23 February 2010, as amended.
3. Matters arising
None.
4. Chairperson’s Business
None.
5. Correspondence
Outgoing correspondence
Members noted:
- A letter to the Secretary of State requesting information on the £22 million for the PSNI Part-time Reserve
- A letter to the First Minister and deputy First Minister requesting the paper by Mr Larkin and their response to it, as soon as possible together with details of the location, budget and number of staff of any future Attorney General’s office.
Incoming correspondence
Members noted:
- A reply dated 24 February 2010 from the Secretary of State about the PSNI Part-time Reserve.
6. Consideration of the draft Second Report on the Arrangements for the Devolution of Policing and Justice Matters
The Chairman proposed that the draft version of the second report on the arrangements for the devolution of policing and justice matters should be read paragraph by paragraph.
Members noted the absence of a representative from the SDLP during the paragraph by paragraph reading of the report.
Agreed: Page 2, Powers, read and agreed.
Page 2, Membership, read and agreed.
Agreed: Page 3, Declaration of Interests, read and agreed, as amended.
Page 3, Observer Status, read and agreed.
Agreed: Pages 8 – 21
- Paragraph 1, read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraph 2, read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraphs 3 - 20, read and agreed.
- Paragraph 21, read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraph 22, read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraphs 23 – 25, read and agreed.
- Paragraphs 26 - 35, read and agreed.
- Paragraph 36, read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraph 37, read and agreed.
- Paragraph 38, read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraph 39, read and agreed.
- Paragraph 40 read and agreed, as amended.
- Paragraphs 41 - 65, read and agreed.
- New Paragraph 66, proposed, inserted, read and agreed.
- Original Paragraph 66 renumbered as Paragraph 67, read and agreed.
Agreed: Executive Summary – Page 7, read and agreed, as amended.
Agreed: The inclusion of Appendices 1 to 13, as listed on pages 5 and 6, was agreed.
Agreed: Page 4, List of Abbreviations, read and agreed.
Agreed: The front cover was agreed.
Question put : That the Report be the Committee’s Second Report on the Arrangements for the Devolution of Policing and Justice Matters.
Agreed: Members ordered the report to be printed.
12.00 noon Mr Ian Paisley Jnr joined the meeting
Agreed: The Committee agreed to authorise the Chairperson to approve and sign the minutes of today’s meeting in order for an extract to be included in the report.
Members discussed the embargo and distribution arrangements for the report.
Agreed: Members agreed that the report should be subject to strict embargo until 9 March 2010.
Members noted that two copies of the Committee’s report would be placed in the Business Office on 25 February 2010, together with a note to confirm that the Committee had ordered the report to be printed and indicating that it was under embargo until 9 March 2010.
Agreed: Members agreed that advance copies of the report should be sent to MLAs and to specified organisations, under strict embargo, on 4 or 5 March 2010.
Agreed: Members agreed that the report should be released to the Media on Monday 8 March 2010, under strict embargo.
Agreed: Members agreed to consider media handling at the next meeting of the Committee on 2 March 2010.
7. Any other business
None
8. Date, time and place of next meeting
The Committee agreed that the next meeting would take place on Tuesday, 2 March 2010 at 11.00 am, in Room 21.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting 12.07 pm.