COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
THURSDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2010
SENATE CHAMBER, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Present:
Lord Morrow MLA (Chairman)
Mr Raymond McCartney MLA (Deputy Chairman)
Lord Browne MLA
Mr Thomas Buchanan MLA
Sir Reg Empey MLA
Mr Paul Givan MLA
Mr Alban Maginness MLA
Mr Conall McDevitt MLA
Mr David McNarry MLA
Ms Carál Ní Chuilín MLA
Mr John O’Dowd MLA
In Attendance:
Mrs Christine Darrah (Assembly Clerk)
Mrs Roisin Donnelly (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Mr Vincent Gribbin (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Mr Joe Westland (Clerical Supervisor)
Mr Kevin Marks (Clerical Officer)
The meeting commenced at 2.03 p.m. in public session.
1. Apologies
There were no apologies.
2. Draft minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2010
Agreed: The Committee approved the draft minutes of the meeting of 2 December 2010.
2.08 p.m. Mr Givan joined the meeting.
3. Matters Arising
- The Committee noted that the proposed informal lunch, to be held jointly with the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety on Thursday 16 December 2010, has been postponed until the New Year.
- The Committee considered proposals by the Department of Justice to develop a Reducing Offending Strategy.
Agreed: The Committee agreed that it was content with the proposed approach to developing a Reducing Offending Strategy and noted that it would have an opportunity to consider the outline documents prior to publication.
- The Committee considered correspondence from the Law Society outlining a number of issues raised during the oral evidence sessions on the Legal Aid clauses in the Justice at the meeting of the 2 December.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to request a response from the Department for Justice on the issues raised.
- The Committee noted arrangements for the evidence session on the Policing and Community Safety Partnership clauses of the Justice Bill on Thursday 16 December 2010.
4. Briefing by the Minister of Justice on the Erroneous Release by the NI Prison Service of three prisoners
David Ford MLA, Minister for Justice, Alan Craig, Deputy Director of Operations, Colin McConnell, Acting Director General of the Prison Service joined the meeting at 2.13 p.m.
The Minister briefed the Committee on the erroneous release by the Northern Ireland Prison Service of three prisoners and answered questions from Members on issues including the causes of the mistakes; whether any other erroneous releases of prisoners had occurred in recent years; and responsibility and accountability issues and whether the errors were systematic.
2.48 p.m. Mr Maginness left the meeting.
3.03 p.m. Mr McNarry left the meeting.
3.15 p.m. Mr Buchannan left the meeting.
3.22 p.m. Mr Givan left the meeting.
The Chairman thanked the Minister and his officials for the briefing and they left the meeting.
The evidence session was recorded by Hansard.
5. The Justice Bill – Oral Evidence Sessions
Briefing by Department of Justice Officials onParts 5 and 6 and Schedule 4 of the Justice Bill relating to the Treatment of Offenders and Alternatives to Prosecution.
Gareth Johnston, Deputy Director of Justice Strategy Division, Tom Haire, Justice Bill Manager, Janice Smiley, Head of Criminal Policy Unit and Paul Black, Criminal Policy Unit joined the meeting at 3.22 p.m.
The Departmental officials briefed the Committee on Parts 5 and 6 and Schedule 4 of the Justice Bill relating to the Treatment of Offenders and Alternatives to Prosecution and the intent of the clauses and answered questions from Members.
The Chairman thanked the officials for the briefing.
The evidence session was recorded by Hansard.
Briefing by the Probation Board for Northern Ireland
Brian McCaughey, Director, Hugh Hamill, Assistant Director and Louise Cooper, Head of Business Planning and Development, the Probation Board joined the meeting at 3.43 p.m.
The representatives briefed the Committee on the Probation Board views on the Treatment of Offenders and Alternatives to Prosecution Clauses of the Bill and answered questions from Members on issues such as the management of fine defaulters the budgetary commitments required in relation to conditional cautions, and Clause 59 relating to breach of license conditions by sex offenders.
3.54 p.m. Mr Buchanan left the meeting.
4.01 p.m. Sir Reg Empey joined the meeting.
The Chairman thanked the representatives for the briefing.
The evidence session was recorded by Hansard.
Briefing by NIACRO
David Weir, Director of Family Services and Pat Conway, Director of Adult Services, NIACRO joined the meeting at 4.12 p.m.
The representatives briefed the Committee on NIACRO’s views on the Alternatives to Prosecution Clauses of the Justice Bill and answered questions from Members on issues such as alternatives to fixed penalty notices, the need to divert people away from the Criminal Justice System to alternative services, and the fact that monetary penalties do not address the cases of offending behavior and would not reduce re-offending rates.
4.42 p.m. Mr Maginness rejoined the meeting.
The Chairman thanked the representatives for the briefing.
The evidence session was recorded by Hansard.
Briefing by Include Youth
Koulla Yiasouma, Director, Edel Quinn, Policy Manger and Paula Rogers, Policy Coordinator joined the meeting at 4.43 p.m.
The representatives briefed the Committee on Include Youth’s views on the Alternatives to Prosecution Clauses of the Justice Bill and the Equality Impact Assessment on the Bill and answered Members questions. Issues covered the impact of fixed penalty notices on young people; the possibility of using the Bill to remove ASBOS; and why alternatives to prosecution proposals were included before the outcome of the Youth Justice Review and Reducing Offending Behaviour were known
4.53 p.m. Sir Reg Empey left the meeting.
The Chairman thanked the representatives for the briefing.
The evidence session was recorded by Hansard.
Response by Department of Justice officials on the issues raised by the organisations
Gareth Johnston, Deputy Director of Justice Strategy Division, Tom Haire, Justice Bill Manager, Janice Smiley, Head of Criminal Policy Unit and Paul Black, Criminal Policy Unit returned to the table at 5.17 p.m.
The Departmental officials responded to the issues raised by the organisations on the the Treatment of Offenders and Alternatives to Prosecution clauses of the Justice Bill and agreed to provide the Committee with further information.
5.22 p.m. Mr Givan rejoined the meeting.
The Chairman thanked the officials for the briefing and they left the meeting.
The evidence session was recorded by Hansard.
6. SR 2010/377 - PSNI and PSNI Reserve (Full-time) (Severance) (Amendment)
Regulations 2010
The Committee considered Statutory Rule N o 2010/377 - PSNI and PSNI Reserve (Full-time) (Severance) (Amendment) Regulations 2010.
The Committee noted that the Examiner of Statutory Rules had no issues to raise with regard to the technical aspects of the Statutory Rule.
Agreed: The Committee for Justice considered Statutory Rule N o 2010/377 - PSNI and PSNI Reserve (Full-time) (Severance) (Amendment)
Regulations 2010 and had no objection to the Rule.
7. SR 2010/379 – The Family Proceedings (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2010
The Committee considered Statutory Rule N o 2010/379 – The Family Proceedings (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2010.
The Committee noted that the Examiner of Statutory Rules had no issues to raise with regard to the technical aspects of the Statutory Rule.
Agreed: The Committee for Justice considered Statutory Rule N o 2010/379 – The Family Proceedings (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2010 and had no objection to the Rule.
8. SR 2010/381 - The Rules of the Court of Judicature (NI) (Amendment No.2) 2010
The Committee considered Statutory Rule N o 2010/381 - The Rules of the Court of Judicature (NI) (Amendment No.2) 2010.
The Committee noted that the Examiner of Statutory Rules had no issues to raise with regard to the technical aspects of the Statutory Rule.
Agreed: The Committee for Justice considered Statutory Rule N o 2010/381 - The Rules of the Court of Judicature (NI) (Amendment No.2) 2010
and had no objection to the Rule.
9. Bribery Act 2010 – Response to consultation on Guidance on Bribery Prevention Procedures for Commercial Organisations.
The Committee considered information provided by the Department of Justice outlining the findings of the consultation exercise on the guidance on Bribery Prevention Procedures for Commercial Organisations and how account would be taken of the comments and suggestions made by consultees when finalising the guidance
Agreed: The Committee agreed to request a copy of the up-dated guidance in draft form before it is published.
10. Chairman’s Business
The Committee noted that arrangements had been made for the Chairman and Deputy Chairman to meet with Dr Michael Maguire, at his request, on Tuesday 14 December to discuss the CJI Inspection Programme for 2011-12.
11 : Correspondence
- The Committee noted correspondence from the Minister of Justice regarding issues raised in relation to the sentence given in the case of Eamonn Coyle.
- The Committee considered correspondence from the Department of Justice regarding the draft Play and Leisure Implementation Plan from the Office of the First and deputy First Minister
Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward the correspondence to the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
- The Committee noted correspondence from the Department of Justice regarding EU Funding for Community Safety Projects
- The Committee noted correspondence from the Committee for Finance and Personnel regarding a proposal for Stakeholder Engagement on the Spending Review and draft Budget 2011-2015.
Agreed: The Committee agreed that a representative should participate in the proposed themed round table discussions with key stakeholders on strategic and cost-cutting budget issues
- The Committee noted correspondence from the Prison Review Team regarding progress on the review.
- The Committee considered the summary and recommendations of the Prisoner Ombudsman’s report on the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr John Deery in HM Prison Maghaberry together with a joint press release and action plan from the Prison Service and South Eastern Health and Social Services Trust.
Agreed: The Committee agreed that the Prisoner Ombudsman Office should be asked to provide the Committee with a copy of any report published.
- The Committee noted correspondence from the Committee for Social Development regarding the Housing (Amendment) (No.2) Bill and requesting comment from the Department of Justice.
Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward the correspondence to the Department of Justice for information and
- The Committee noted an invitation from NIACRO to the fifth event in the Justice Series on Youth Offending and Anti-Social Behaviour to be held in Parliament Buildings on Tuesday 14 December 2010.
12 . Any Other Business
None.
13: Date and Time of next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Thursday 16 December at 2.00 p.m. in the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings.
6.09 p.m. The Chairman adjourned the meeting.
Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley MLA
Chairman, Committee for Justice
16 December 2010
7 December 10 / Menu
