Northern Ireland Assembly - Committee on Standards and Privileges

Committee on Standards and Privileges

Inquiry on the appointment of an Assembly Commissioner for Standards, on maintaining the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules Relating to the Conduct of Members (The Code of Conduct), and on handling alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct

The Northern Ireland Assembly Committee on Standards and Privileges has agreed to carry out an Inquiry on the appointment of an Assembly Commissioner for Standards, on maintaining the Code of Conduct and on handling alleged breaches in relation to it.

Terms of Reference

The Aim of the Inquiry is to establish the most appropriate means of maintaining the Code of Conduct and handling alleged breaches in relation to it.

In doing so the Committee will consider:

What the role, responsibilities and powers of an Assembly Commissioner for Standards should be;
whether the position of an Assembly Commissioner for Standards should be placed on a statutory basis;
how an Assembly Commissioner for Standards should be appointed;
what the terms and conditions of any appointment might be;
what the role of the Committee on Standards and Privileges should be in dealing with alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct; and
what the role of the Assembly should be in dealing with alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct.

Any organisation or individual with an interest is invited to submit written evidence to the Committee by E-mail (in the format MS word) by Friday 18 December 2009 . A copy of the Code of Conduct can be downloaded from the Assembly’s website http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/reports/nia24-01.htm or can be provided on request by emailing the Committee at committee.standards&privileges@niassembly.gov.uk. An issues paper has also been prepared and is also available on request.

Submissions can also be forwarded to:

The Clerk of Standards
Room 284
Parliament Buildings
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX

Any enquiries can be made to the Committee Clerk on 028 9052 0333 and information regarding the Committee can be obtained from its website:

http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/standards/2007mandate/standards.htm