COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
OFFICIAL REPORT
(Hansard)
Game Licensing (Wildlife Bill)
21 May 2009
Members present for all or part of the proceedings:
Mr David Hilditch (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Mickey Brady
Mr Thomas Burns
Mr Jonathan Craig
Ms Anna Lo
Mr Fra McCann
Ms Carál Ní Chuilín
Witnesses:
Ms Caroline Hobson ) Department for Social Development
Ms Pat McAlister ) Department for Social Development
The Deputy Chairperson (Mr Hilditch):
We now move to the departmental briefing on the game licensing (wildlife Bill).
The Committee Clerk:
The responsibility for game and game-dealer licensing lies with the Department for Social Development. At its meeting on 4 October 2007, the Committee for Social Development considered the proposal from the Minister for Social Development to abolish the game-licensing system in Northern Ireland as part of the review of the Department of the Environment’s wildlife Bill.
The Committee was content for the Department of the Environment to consult on Minister Ritchie’s proposal, but it agreed to consider the matter further when the result of the public consultation was known. Following the consultation, the responses to which were generally favourable, the Minister concluded that it would be in order to make legislative provision to abolish the game-licensing system. Therefore, the Department of the Environment is to seek Executive approval to introduce the necessary primary legislation to abolish the game-licensing system. That will be included in the provisions of the wildlife Bill, which is primary legislation. For that reason, Hansard will record the Committee’s deliberations. We will now hear a briefing from the Department.
The Deputy Chairperson:
I invite Pat McAlister and Caroline Hobson from DSD’s social policy unit to present their submission.
The Committee Clerk:
A mobile phone is on in the room. I ask everybody to switch their phones off as they interrupt our recording. [Laughter.]
The Deputy Chairperson:
At this stage, I have the usual words of warning about mobile phones for anybody who is visiting us. Please switch them off. It is over to Pat and Caroline for a short presentation. I am sure that there will be some questions after that.
Ms Pat McAlister (Department for Social Development):
To be honest, we do not really have much to add to what is in the paper. In a way, we are here under false pretences because the wildlife Bill belongs to the Department of the Environment. Our only role is to administer the licensing system, which we inherited for historic reasons. The licensing unit to which we belong was originally in the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, and it transferred to the Department for Social Development. This goes back to the 1800s, so we can only imagine — we cannot get to the bottom of it — that it had something to do with food-safety hygiene, which is possibly why it ended up with DHSSPS. For the life of us, we cannot think why else it would have gone there.
We have been administering the licences. When our Minister was approached by DOE, the wildlife Bill seemed to be a reasonable vehicle for getting rid of licences. They had already been reviewed across the water, and it was decided that they served no useful conservation purpose. They were costing Government and businesses money, and times had moved on; they no longer served any purpose.
The DOE asked the Minister whether she would have a problem if it got rid of the licences, and she said no. We just administer them through post offices, so we were happy enough. The Department of the Environment is doing away with the licences, so we will have nothing left to administer. That is the situation.
The Deputy Chairperson:
OK. Members have heard that this issue affects other Departments, so do we wish to comment at this stage? I do not think that we do. Ladies, thank you very much —
Ms McAlister:
I will give you the bottom line for the figures because we worked them all out. Each year, the Treasury gains £5,680 from licences, and the Northern Ireland block pays £13,000 to administer them for the Treasury.
The Deputy Chairperson:
That is an issue.
Ms McAlister:
The sooner we get rid of them, the better.
The Deputy Chairperson:
Ladies, thank you very much. The Committee has fulfilled its part of the process by inviting you here today. Have a good day.