Present:Mr D McClelland (Chairman)
Mr R Beggs Jnr
Mr P Berry
Mr A Doherty
Mr K McCarthy
Mr P McNamee

ApologiesMr A Doherty
Dr D O'Hagan
Mr J Wells

In AttendanceMr A Rogers
Mrs J McMurray

The Committee met at 1.05 p.m. in closed session.

1. Chairman's Introduction

The Chairman welcomed the members to the fifteenth meeting of the Standards and Privileges Committee;

2. Declaration of Interests

The Chairman reminded members of their obligation to declare any relevant pecuniary or other interests before and during each committee meeting.

3. Minutes of proceedings of the meeting of 12 June 2001.

The Committee adopted the minutes of proceedings of the meeting of 12 June 2001. (Proposed: Mr K McCarthy, Seconded Mr P McNamee)

4. Follow up to Appointment of Assembly Commissioner for Standards.

The Committee considered the draft advertisement and job specification which had been circulated and agreed that, subject to suggested amendments, they should be submitted to the Assembly Commission to enable the issues surrounding the appointment of a Commissioner to be progressed. Members noted that there may be changes to the documents after consultation with the Assembly Commission and that the issue would not be considered by the Commission until after the summer recess.

The Committee agreed that the following amendments should be highlighted to the Commission:

• the advertisement should include a requirement for the applicant to have previous experience of dealing with elected representatives.
• paragraph 6.8 of the job specification may limit the field of applicants and consideration should therefore be given to exclude the age restriction.

Mr A Doherty joined the meeting at 1.15 p.m.

5. Correspondence

The Committee considered an ongoing issue and agreed on the appropriate action to take.

6. Any other business

The Committee noted that amendments to Standing Orders 57 and 64 would be debated at the Plenary Session of the Assembly on the afternoon of 3 July under motions put down by the Chairperson of the Committee on Procedures, Mr Conor Murphy.

7. Date and Time of Next Meeting

To be arranged.

The meeting concluded at 1.32 p.m.