COMMITTEE FOR ENTERPRISE, TRADE AND INVESTMENT
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
WEDNESDAY 16 JANUARY 2002 AT 10.22AM IN
ROOM 144, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Present: Mr P Doherty MP (Chairperson)
Mr B Armstrong
Mr W Clyde
Mrs A Courtney
Mr D McClarty
Dr A McDonnell
Ms J Morrice
Dr D O'Hagan
Mr J Wells
Apologies: Mr S Neeson (Deputy Chairperson)
In attendance: Mrs C White (Committee Clerk)
Mr M Anderson (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Mr R Anderson (Clerical Supervisor)
Miss A Fowler (Clerical Officer)
Dr P Gilleece (Assembly Researcher)
The meeting opened in public at 10.22am.
1. Minutes of the Last Meeting
1.1 Agreed - the minutes of 9 January 2002.
2. Invest Northern Ireland - Management Statement and Financial Memorandum
2.1 The Committee considered the draft management statement and financial memorandum.
Agreed -to write to the department with the concerns identified.3. Staffing of Invest Northern Ireland
3.1 Agreed - to write to the department expressing the view that all posts within those bodies which will eventually form INI should be subject to open competition.
4. HSENI Consultation Document on Proposals for Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002, Control of Lead at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002, and Associated Approved Codes of Practice
4.1 Agreed - in principle to the proposals.
Dr O'Hagan joined the meeting at 10.35am.
5. Correspondence in relation to the role of the banking ombudsman
5.1 Agreed - that the correspondence will be passed to the Committee for Finance and Personnel, recommending that the Committee investigates the issues raised.
Dr McDonnell joined the meeting at 10.40am.
6. Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Consultation Document on Bill of Rights
6.1 Agreed - to defer consideration until the next meeting.
7. Industrial De-rating
7.1 Agreed - that the witnesses from CBI will give evidence on 30 January 2002 instead of 23 January 2002.
8. New Messaging system for Members
8.1 Agreed - to allow the Information Systems Office to hold members mobile phone numbers for the purpose of the new messaging system.
9. Chairpersons' Liason Group
9.1 The Chairman asked the members for any issues they wanted raised at the Chairpersons' Liason Group meeting on 22 January 2002.
Agreed - that the Chairperson should raise two issues at the meeting: Reducing the quorum for Committee meetings to four members; and the holding of Committee meetings during plenary sessions.
Ms Morrice joined the meeting at 11.15am.
Mr Wells left the meeting at 11.15am.
Mr McClarty left the meeting at 11.15am.
10. Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies
10.1 Agreed - to send a copy of the reply from The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and the Committee's original letter to the Minister to the Human Rights Commission for their information.
The meeting went into private session at 11.18am.
Mr Wells rejoined the meeting at 11.24am.
Mr Armstrong left the meeting at 11.28am.
11. Monitoring of Expenditure
11.1 The Committee discussed the 2001/02 Monitoring of Expenditure December return.
Agreed - to request a detailed explanation of the December return from the Department.
12. Energy Inquiry
12.1 The Committee continued to deliberate on its energy inquiry.
Mr McClarty rejoined the meeting at 11.58am.
Dr McDonnell left the meeting at 12.03pm.
Mr Clyde joined the meeting at 12.10pm.
Mr Armstrong rejoined the meeting at 12.13pm.
Dr McDonnell rejoined the meeting at 12.25pm.
Mr McClarty left the meeting at 12.29pm.
13. Date of next meeting
13.1 The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Wednesday 23 January 2002 at 10.30am in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.
The meeting closed at 1.29pm.
Mr Pat Doherty MP
Chairperson