COMMITTEE FOR FINANCE AND PERSONNEL

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
SEVENTH MEETING
WEDNESDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2000
ROOM 144, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

1. Apologies
2. Agree Minutes of Proceedings
3. Matters Arising
4. Consider any Statutory Rules
5. Correspondence
6. New TSN - Department of Finance & Personnel Draft Action Plan
7. Role of the Committee
8. Date of Next Meeting
8. Any Other Business

Members Present:

Mr Francie Molloy (Chair) Mr James Leslie (Deputy Chair) Mr Alex Attwood Mr Seamus Close

Mr Derek Hussey Mr Gardiner Kane Mr Donovan McCelland Mr Peter Weir

In Attendance:
Mr Martin Wilson (Committee Clerk)
Mr Peter Hughes (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Ms Sharon Bowman (Administrative Support)

1.1 Mr J Leslie who would be delayed, Mr O Gibson, Mr A Maskey.

2.1 Agreed: The Committee agreed the Minutes of Proceedings for the Committee meeting on Wednesday, 19 January 2000.

3.1.1 Agreed: The Committee agreed to invite the Office of Law Reform to appear before the Committee to explain the Divorce Law reform proposals.

3.2.1 The Committee discussed the Chairman's proposal to appoint an independent person to advise the Committee on the Assembly Members' Pensions Bill, following the Chairman and Deputy Chairman's interview of a possible specialist advisor.

3.2.2 Agreed. The Committee agreed the terms of reference for the advisor and agreed to issue a letter of appointment to the specialist advisor interviewed by the Chairman as soon as the Clerk Assistant and the Head of Administration confirmed the terms of appointment.

4.1 No Statutory Rules were referred to the Committee.

5.1.1 Agreed. The Committee agreed that the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency should be asked to appear before the Committee at the next meeting to explain the plans for increasing public confidence in official statistics. The Committee would then respond to the Department on the proposals.

5.2 Presentation to Social Development Committee.

5.2.1 Members were informed of a presentation by the Department of Finance and Personnel on the Capital Receipts Formula.

5.3 CBI Presentation 'Public Private Partnerships in Northern Ireland'.

5.3.1 Mr Nigel Smyth Director CBI Northern Ireland gave a presentation to the Committee. Dr Chris Gibson OBE UK Director Golden Vale plc, and Mr Bryan Johnston OBE Chairman NI Post Office Board supported him. A number of issues, such as co-ordinated action to enhance the commercial environment, achieving value for money in the public sector, and an examination of the progress made on public private partnerships and the Private Finance Initiative were discussed

6.1 The draft action plan was discussed.

6.2 Agreed. The Committee agreed the terms of the formal response to the Department.

7.1 Agreed: Members agreed to consider this item at the next weekly meeting.

8.1 Agreed: The next weekly meeting of the Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, 9 February at 2.00 pm. A further meeting to consider the Assembly Members' Pensions Bill was scheduled for Thursday, 10 February at 2.00 pm.

9.1 There was no other business