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COMMITTEE FOR FINANCE AND PERSONNEL

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Room 152, Parliament Buildings

Present:
Mitchel McLaughlin MLA (Chairperson)
Roy Beggs MLA
Dr Stephen Farry MLA
Simon Hamilton MLA
Fra McCann MLA
Jennifer McCann MLA
Adrian McQuillan MLA
Declan O’Loan MLA
Dawn Purvis MLA

In Attendance:
Shane McAteer (Assembly Clerk)
Vivien Ireland (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Colin Jones (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Paula Sandford (Clerical Supervisor)
Mary Thompson (Clerical Officer) Jodie Carson (Assembly Researcher)

Apologies:
Mervyn Storey MLA (Deputy Chairperson)
Peter Weir MLA

The meeting commenced at 10.02 am in open session.

  1. Apologies

Apologies are detailed above.

  1. Draft Minutes of Proceedings of 6 February 2008

Agreed: for publication on the Assembly website.

Mr Hamilton joined the meeting at 10.04 am.

  1. Matters Arising

Members noted the outstanding requests for information from the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) and the DFP paper on the impact of a reduction in the maximum rates cap on District Council revenue.

Members noted that, following issues raised by the Committee at last week’s briefing by DFP officials on the forthcoming statutory rule to raise the capital limit in respect of rate relief for pensioners, the accompanying explanatory memorandum will include details of the maximum potential cost.

Members considered DFP’s response to the Committee’s follow up questions on the outcome of the December Monitoring Round. It was noted that DFP is prepared to develop a standard approach to facilitate scrutiny by statutory committees of departmental submissions to monitoring rounds. In this regard, DFP was seeking the Committee’s assessment of the present arrangements for providing information on monitoring rounds.

Agreed: a draft response will be prepared for consideration at the next meeting, after which the views of the other statutory committees will be sought.

Mr McQuillan joined the meeting at 10.08 am.

Members were briefed by Jodie Carson, Assembly Research, on an additional paper requested by the Committee, following an initial Research briefing on the relocation of public sector jobs.

Agreed: that the research paper will be published on the Assembly website.

Members considered DFP’s response to the Committee’s follow up questions on strategic budget issues. The Committee noted that the response included initial information on the Committee’s recommendation in its Draft Budget Report, that the process and timetable for future budgets should be settled early in 2008. It was noted that the process had not yet been considered by the Executive.

Agreed: that DFP officials will be asked to brief the Committee on the Department’s initial proposals relating to the budget process and on how the Budget and Programme for Government documents could be aligned more closely to aid public consultation in the future.

Members noted progress to date against targets in DFP’s Sustainable Development Action Plan.

Dr Farry joined the meeting at 10.20 am.

  1. Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) briefing on PEACE Funding, including the potential gap between PEACE II and PEACE III Funds

The Committee was briefed by Frances McCandless, Director of Policy and Lisa McElherron, Policy Development Manager, NICVA.

Mr Beggs declared an interest as a member of Carrickfergus Borough Council and as Chairperson of the All Party Assembly Group on Children and Young People.

Ms Purvis referred to her interests declared in the Register of Members’ Interests.

  1. DFP Update on PEACE Funding, including the Potential Gap between PEACE II and PEACE III Funds

The Committee was briefed by Richard Pengelly, Budget Director (Acting), Bill Pauley, Head of European Division and Martin Tyrell, Head of European Division, North South Programmes Branch, DFP.

Mr Beggs declared an interest as a member of Carrickfergus Borough Council.

Ms Purvis referred to her interests declared in the Register of Members’ Interests.

Dr Farry left the meeting at 11.40 am.

Agreed : that a briefing from DFP and the Special European Union Programmes Body will be arranged in April to update the Committee on progress relating to the closure of PEACE II and on funding under PEACE III.

  1. Correspondence

Members noted the following correspondence:

Committee for Regional Development – Assumptions in the Final Budget relating to Northern Ireland Water;

Agreed: to forward to DFP for a response;

Agreed: that written clarification will be sought from DFP on the proposed increase in fees; the potential additional costs to charities and voluntary bodies carrying out genealogical searches and the potential equality issues from charging for the registration of civil partnerships;

Agreed: that the submission will be sent to DFP for a response and copied to the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment for information and that the Association will be invited to brief the Committee;

  1. Committee Work Programme

Members considered the updated Committee work programme until Easter recess. It was noted that the ICAI will brief the Committee on 5 March, following the Institute’s evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. A response was pending from Sir David Varney as to when he will brief the Committee on his work to date.

Agreed: that DFP officials will be asked to update the Committee prior to the potential briefing session from Sir David Varney.

The Committee noted that the DFP briefings on progress against targets in this year’s business plan and the development of a new corporate plan had been postponed for one week at the Department’s request.

Agreed: that DFP briefings on the Department’s Sustainable Development Action Plan and on public procurement will be scheduled for the meeting on 20 February.

Agreed: that briefings will also be sought from DFP on the report by the Capital Realisation Taskforce and on progress in relation to the Performance and Efficiency Delivery Unit.

Agreed: that the revised work programme will be published on the Assembly website.

Members noted that a paper on potential Committee inquiries will be considered at the next meeting.

  1. Any other Business

Members noted relevant press articles relating to the work of the Committee.

  1. Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 20 February 2008 at 10.00 am in Room 152, Parliament Buildings.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 12.16 pm.

Mitchel McLaughlin, Chairperson,
Committee for Finance and Personnel.
20 February 2008

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