COMMITTEE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
OFFICIAL REPORT
(Hansard)
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
15 October 2009
Members present for all or part of the proceedings:
Ms Dolores Kelly (Chairperson)
Mr Cathal Boylan (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Roy Beggs
Mr John Dallat
Mr David Ford
Mr Danny Kinahan
Mr Ian McCrea
Mr Adrian McQuillan
Mr Alastair Ross
Mr Peter Weir
The Chairperson (Mrs D Kelly):
Members have been provided with an updated draft report on the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which is included in the Committee papers. We now need to agree each section of that report. Any changes made to the document since 13 October have been noted in red font for easy identification. We will go through each section of the report and ensure that Committee members are content.
Are members content with the executive summary?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with the recommendations?
Mr Beggs:
Where are the recommendations?
The Chairperson:
Page 8.
The Committee staff worked late last night, given that some of the decisions were made only on Tuesday. I want to thank them for their sterling work.
Are members content with the recommendations?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with the introduction, which is on pages 10 and 11?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with the consideration of the Bill by the Committee, on pages 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with the key issues, on pages 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with the clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill, on pages 24, 25 and 26?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with appendix 1, which comprises the minutes of proceedings, on page 27?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with appendix 2: the minutes of evidence?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with appendix 3: the written submissions?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with appendix 4: the list of witnesses?
Mr Ford:
To my recollection, Councillor Clive McFarland did not appear, although he was expected to.
Mr Weir:
As I understand it, from speaking to him, Omagh District Council did not tell him that he was supposed to appear. [Laughter.]
The Chairperson:
Subject to that amendment, are members content with the list of witnesses?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content with appendix 5: other papers submitted to the Committee, on page 31?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Are members content for the report to contain the relevant extracts of the minutes from today’s meeting, and the minutes of evidence?
Members indicated assent.
The Chairperson:
Members will be agreeing to the conclusion of the report without prior sight of those documents. However, most of the written submissions have been before the Committee.
The Committee Clerk:
It is only the relevant minutes of today’s meeting and the Hansard report that members will not have had prior sight of.
The Chairperson:
There is little content in some of that. It is mostly noting the evidence to date.
The report of the Committee will now be ordered to be printed and submitted to the Business Office as the Committee’s official report on the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. That is the end of the Committee Stage. Members should congratulate themselves on a good piece of work, and on keeping to the timescale agreed with the Department.
If members recall, we sent the Committee on Standards and Privileges the guidance that we received from our Committee Clerk on handling potential conflicts of interest when considering the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. We have been informed by the Standards and Privileges Committee that it is happy with that guidance, and happy that we adhered to it. Do members agree to note that?
Members indicated assent.