Committee on Standards and Privileges

Remit:

The Committee on Standards and Privileges is a Standing Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly established in accordance with paragraph 10 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement and under Assembly Standing Order No. 57.

Powers:

The Committee has power:

• to consider specific matters relating to privilege referred to it by the Assembly;
• to oversee the work of the Assembly Clerk of Standards;
• to examine the arrangement for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the Assembly, and to review from time to time the form and content of those registers;
• to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it;
• to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches of any code of conduct to which the Assembly has agreed and which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention;
• to recommend any modifications to any Assembly code of conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary.

Membership:

The membership of the Committee at 31 August 2010 was as follows:

Mr Declan O’Loan, Chairperson ^1,11,12
Mr Willie Clarke, Deputy Chairperson ²
Mr Allan Bresland
Mr Thomas Buchanan ³
Mr Trevor Clarke ^4,5
Rev Dr Robert Coulter
Mr Micky Brady ^6,10
Mr Paul Maskey ^7,8
Mr Alastair Ross ⁹
Mr George Savage
Mr Brian Wilson

1 Mr Declan O’Loan replaced Mrs Carmel Hanna as Chairperson with effect from 3 July 2009
2 Mr Willie Clarke replaced Mr Gerry McHugh as Deputy Chairperson with effect from 21 January 2008
3 Mr Thomas Buchanan replaced Mr David Hilditch with effect from 14 September 2009
4 Mr Jonathan Craig replaced Mr Alex Easton with effect from 15 September 2008
5 Mr Trevor Clarke replaced Mr Jonathan Craig with effect from 14 September 2009
6 Mr Billy Leonard replaced Mr Francie Brolly with effect from 11 January 2010
7 Mrs Claire McGill replaced Mr Gerry McHugh with effect from 28 January 2008
8 Mr Paul Maskey replaced Ms Claire McGill with effect from 20 May 2008
9 Mr Alastair Ross replaced Mr Adrian McQuillan with effect from 29 May 2007
10 Mr Micky Brady replaced Mr Billy Leonard with effect from 19 April 2010.
11 Mr Pat Ramsey replaced Mr Declan O’Loan with effect from 31 May 2010
12 Mr Declan O’Loan replaced Mr Pat Ramsey with effect from 29 th June 2010

END OF SESSION REPORT

1. This is the end of session report of the Committee on Standards and Privileges of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2010.

The Register of Members’ Interests

2. During this session the Committee published a new edition of the Register of Members’ Interests. The new Register was required in order to reflect the more extensive registration requirements which had been agreed by the Assembly. The new edition of the Register required Members to register all outside earnings and the time they spend on these activities. It also required Members to register family members who benefit in any way from any Members’ Allowance.

Committee Inquiry

3. The Committee conducted an inquiry on enforcing the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules Relating to the Conduct of Members and the Appointment of an Assembly Commissioner for Standards. The aim of the inquiry was to establish the most appropriate means of maintaining the Assembly’s Code of Conduct and handling alleged breaches of it.

4. The inquiry concluded that the Assembly should have its own Commissioner for Standards whose role would be to carry out independent objective investigations into complaints against Members and to present his or her findings to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. The inquiry also concluded that the role and powers of the Assembly Commissioner for Standards should be set out on a statutory basis.

5. In addition, the inquiry concluded that, broadly speaking, the principles of the existing system whereby the Northern Ireland Assembly regulates its own affairs and ultimately takes decisions on complaints that have been made against Members of the Assembly is an appropriate, reasonable and workable system.

Review of the Rules on All-Party Groups

6. The Committee carried out a review of the Rules on All-Party Groups which had not been reviewed since their introduction in February 1999.

7. The Report on the Review of the Rules on All-Party Groups was approved by the Committee on Standards and Privileges on 16 June 2010. The new rules set out the purpose of All-Party Groups; the means by which these groups should be established; certain rules in respect of how these groups should operate; and details in relation to the support that such groups are entitled to receive.

8. The most significant change to the rules was that there will no longer be two different types of groups (All-Party Groups and All-Party Assembly Groups). The groups will now be known as All-Party Groups and only MLAs will be allowed to be members of the groups.

Complaints against Members

9. During the 2009/2010 session Dr Tom Frawley continued to act as Interim Assembly Commissioner for Standards. In this role he carried out independent investigations into complaints against Members and reported back to the Committee. The Commissioner received five complaints during this period. The Committee also referred a matter to the Commissioner for investigation. In addition to these, the Interim Commissioner had five cases to investigate which had been carried over from the previous session.

10. Of these eleven cases, three have been completed. Of these, one did not fall within the provisions of the Code; the other two led to the publication of Committee Reports. In both these cases the complaints were not upheld. Reports on five cases are with the Committee for consideration and two cases have been suspended pending the outcome of PSNI investigations and other legal proceedings. One case received recently is being considered by the Commissioner.

Meetings

11. The Committee held 20 meetings during this session. Of these 15 were either held in closed or part closed session. This reflects the fact that the Committee consider matters relating to complaints against Members in closed session. However, it should be noted that when the Committee produces a report on a complaint against a Member, the report always include as an annex the full detail of the Commissioner’s investigation.

Visits

12. As part of the Committee’s consultation process on its inquiry on enforcing the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules Relating to the Conduct of Members and the Appointment of an Assembly Commissioner for Standards, the Committee visited the Oireachtas on 3 rd February 2010 to meet with the Committee on Members' Interests of Dáil Éireann and the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Expenditure

13. Details of the Committee’s expenditure are shown in Annex A.

Key Priorities for next Session

14. The Committee’s key priority for next session is the introduction of Bill to create an Assembly Commissioner for Standards. In addition, the Committee will continue to keep the issue of Members’ conduct under review and will not hesitate from taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the public can have confidence in the integrity of the Assembly and its Members.

ANNEX A

Committee on Standards and Privileges
Expenditure for the period 1 September 2009 – 31 August 2010