COMMITTEE FOR FINANCE AND PERSONNEL
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
SIXTY EIGHTH MEETING
TUESDAY, 9 OCTOBER, 2001
COMMITTEE ROOM 144, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Present:
Mr Francie Molloy (Chairman)
Mr James Leslie (Deputy Chairman)
Mr Alex Attwood
Mr Seamus Close
Mr Derek Hussey
Ms Patricia Lewsley
Mr Alex Maskey
Mr Peter Weir
In attendance:
Mr Alan Patterson (Principal Clerk)
Mr Peter Hughes (Clerk)
Ms Sheila Mc Clelland (Clerk)
Mr Joe Sloan (Assistant Clerk)
Ms Sharon Bowman (Executive Support)
Mr Jonathan Briggs (Administrative Support)
The Chairman declared the meeting open at 2.34p.m. The meeting was held in open session
1. Apologies
1.1. None.
2. Minutes of Proceedings
2.1. Resolved: The Committee agreed the Minutes of Proceedings of 2 October 2001.
3. Matters arising
3.1. The Committee noted the letter sent to the Assembly Committee Chairs regarding Audit and Accountability in the public sector in Northern Ireland.
3.2. The Committee noted the letter sent to the Department of Finance and Personnel requesting a formal response to the Committee's report into the use of PPP.
3.3. The Committee noted the response from the Minister of Finance and Personnel on its recommendation for membership of a representative of the Small Business Federation on the Statistics Advisory Committee.
3.4. The Committee noted the letter from Fermanagh District Council to the Minister of the Environment regarding the proposals contained in the Draft Budget for a reduction of £2m in the resources element of general grant to the Council and the proposed increase in the regional rate.
4. Executive Programme Funds
4.1. The Principal Clerk briefed the Committee on work undertaken by the Clerks and Research Services to examine Executive Programme Fund bids from all the Departments. The Principal Clerk also described the scrutiny role, which the Committee needed to undertake on Department of Finance and Personnel bids, the bidding and consultation process and on a selection of the remaining departmental bids in order to produce a Report on its considerations of the second tranche of Executive Programme Funds.
Mr Hussey attended the meeting at 2.44pm
4.2. Department of Finance and Personnel officials, Mr Michael Daly, Mr Edgar Jardine, Dr Gerry Mulligan and Mr Robert Beatty briefed the Committee and answered questions on the two bids on EPF for funding for a Neighbourhood Statistics project and a Statistical Compendia project.
Mr Attwood attended the meeting at 2.49 p.m.
4.3. Resolved: That the Committee was content with and supported the bids made by the Department under Executive Programme Funds.
Mr Attwood left the meeting at 3.12 p.m.
4.4. Departmental officials Mr David Sterling and Mr Norman Taylor briefed the Committee on the commissioning process and timetable for bids appraisal and allocations of Executive Programme Funds. The officials also told the Committee about the multi-lateral teams set up to appraise the bids involving officials from DFP and the Economic Policy Unit (EPU).
4.5. The Committee expressed a number of general concerns and a particular concern on the lack of communication and guidance to Assembly Departmental Committees on their expected participation in the bidding process and that these would be reflected in its Report on the second tranche of Executive Programme Funds.
Mr Maskey attended the meeting at 3.25 p.m.
4.6. The Departmental officials briefed the Committee and answered questions on the volume, amounts and details of the bids received from departments.
Mr Leslie left the meeting at 3.32 p.m. and returned at 3.47 p.m. Mr Close left the meeting at 3.47 p.m.
5. DFP Equality Scheme
5.1. Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) representatives, Ms Maggie Beirne and Mr Martin O'Brien attended the meeting and briefed the Committee and answered questions on CAJ concerns about a range of issues in the Department of Finance and Personnel's Equality Scheme.
Ms Lewsley left the meeting at 4.20 p.m.
5.2. Department of Finance and Personnel officials, Ms Adrianne Brown, Dr Gerry Mulligan, Mr Stephen Orr and Mrs Nuala Kerr attended the meeting and briefed the Committee and answered questions on the concerns raised by CAJ and on work in progress in addressing equality issues in the Department. The officials acknowledged that the Department had further work to do to improve its Equality Scheme following a recently concluded consultation exercise but assured the Committee that the work was progressing.
6. Chairpersons' Liaison Group
6.1. The Committee was briefed by the Deputy Chairman on his attendance at the 25 September meeting of the Chairpersons' Liaison Group when the future role of Group was discussed.
6.2. The Committee discussed the proposals and agreed that the role of the group should not be extended because of its lack of statutory power, the unrepresentative nature of the Group and the impact the extension would have on existing Committees and other arrangements.
7. Any other Business
7.1. The Committee discussed potential areas of further scrutiny in the Draft Budget and agreed that it would examine the Central Finance Group at its next meeting.
8. Next Meeting
8.1. The Committee agreed to meet again on Tuesday, 16 October 2001.
The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 4.58 p.m.
Francie Molloy
Chairman