1.1 Ms Patricia Lewsley and Mr Roger Hutchinson

2.1 Resolved: The Committee agreed the Minutes of Proceedings of 4 December 2001.

3.1 The Principal Clerk briefed the Committee on the responses received from Members in relation to a potential Inquiry to be undertaken by the Committee in this session.

3.2 Resolved: The Committee agreed that the Principal Clerk should present Terms of Reference for an Inquiry into the Management of European Community Funding at the next meeting.

3.3 The Principal Clerk briefed the Committee on proposals to visit Westminster, Dublin, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly to investigate best practice on how they scrutinise budgets.

3.4 Resolved: The Committee agreed that such visits would be worthwhile and asked the Principal Clerk to develop a draft programme for the Committee's consideration.

3.5 The Committee noted the response on Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment (TUPE) from the Department of Finance and Personnel in relation to the loss of access to the NICS central transfer list by staffing transferring to Inland Revenue. One member voiced concern on the loss of access to the list, particularly to people from rural areas. The Committee also noted the research paper prepared on TUPE for the Committee for Education and Learning.

3.6 The Committee noted the response from the Department of Finance and Personnel to the Committee of the Centre's European Inquiry and agreed to forward the response without comment.

3.7 The Committee noted the Department's revised New Targeting Social Need Action Plan and the letter from the Minister of Finance and Personnel on the membership of the Statistics Advisory Committee.

3.8 The Committee noted the letter from the Minister regarding the Peace II Programme and voiced concern on the amount of influence by Local Strategy Partnerships on the total amount of funds allocated.

3.9 Resolved: The Committee agreed to write to the Minister regarding these concerns.

3.10 The Committee noted the letter sent to the Department requesting a written response to the Human Rights Commission's consultation document on a proposed Bill of Rights.

3.11 The Committee noted the correspondence in relation to the performance of Land Registers and discussed feedback received by members from constituents.

3.12 Resolved: The Committee agreed to write to the Department with the additional information asking that a response be incorporated into the Department's reply to the letter from the Law Society. The Committee also agreed that it would consider what further action was required in light of that response.

3.13 The Committee considered the research and advice provided regarding the instruction issued by the Clerk of Committees to place advanced copies of Committee Reports in the Business Office before publication.

3.14 Resolved: The Committee agreed to endorse the proposed response from the Chairman on this matter to the Chairpersons' Liaison Group.

4.1 Roisin Kelly of Assembly Research and Library Services briefed the Committee and answered questions on her Research Paper on Public Procurement.

4.2 Departmental officials, Mr David Ferguson and Mr Michael Daly and Review Team member Professor Andrew Erridge (Consultant) attended the meeting and updated the Committee on the outcome of the consultation exercise.

4.3 The Review Team issued 600 copies of its Report during the consultation and received 23 responses, which are under consideration and may require changes to the recommendations in the Report. The Minister agreed to extend its consultation period to allow the Committee for Finance and Personnel to respond.

4.4 The Review Team members answered questions from the Committee.

4.5 The Review Team detailed the timetable for completion of the Review as February 2002 for consideration by the Minister of Finance and Personnel, presentations of the recommendations to the Executive in March for decision by March / April 2002. The proposed Procurement Board, Central Procurement Body would then be put in place by April/May 2002 with the Director selected through an open recruitment competition in May 2002. The implementation plan was expected to be completed by the end of summer 2002.

4.6 Resolved: The Committee agreed that the Principal Clerk would prepare a response to the consultation for consideration at its next meeting.

5.1 Lucia Wilson of Assembly Research and Library Services briefed the Committee and answered questions on her Research Paper on Audit and Accountability.

5.2 The Principal Clerk advised the Committee that the Comptroller and Auditor General would be available to discuss the issue before the pre-legislative scrutiny stage if required.

5.3 Departmental officials Mr Brian Delaney and Mr Mark McNaughten attended the meeting and updated the Committee on the consultation exercise.

5.4 The Department issued 400 copies of its Report during the period of consultation and received 56 responses, which are under consideration. The officials described some of the issues raised in responses from government departments, professional bodies, individuals and local councils. The Executive Committee has agreed a legislative timetable for the Bill and the Department will return to the Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny.

5.5 The officials answered questions from the Committee.

5.6 Resolved: The Committee agreed that the Principal Clerk would prepare a response to the consultation for consideration at its next meeting.

6.1 The Committee noted the correspondence received and agreed that the Principal Clerk should contact Mr Nigel Dodds MP regarding Mr McConaghy's correspondence to him which was referred to the Committee.

7.1 The Committee noted its updated Business Programme.

8.1 The next meeting of the Committee was agreed as Tuesday 15 January 2002.

27 November 2001 / Menu / 15 January 2002