BUSINESS COMMITTEE

MONDAY 5 JUNE 2006
IN ROOM 106, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

MINUTES

The meeting began at 2.35 pm

Present: The Speaker (Chair)
Mr B Armstrong
Mr J Dallat
Mrs D Dodds
Mr K McCarthy
Mr D McClarty
Dr A McDonnell
Mr P McGuigan
Mr M Morrow
Mr C Murphy

Present (secretariat): Mr A Moir The Clerk
Mr J Reynolds Deputy Clerk

In attendance: Mr P Moore Clerk of Business
Mr R Good Adviser to the Speaker
Ms G Campbell Private Secretary to the Speaker
Mr H Widdis Legal Adviser

Observers: Ms C Salters NIO
Mr S Johnston OFMDFM

1. Minutes of the meeting held on 30 May 2006

1.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 30 May 2006 were agreed and were signed by the Speaker.

2. Matters Arising

2.1 Referring to paragraph 3.1 of the minutes, the Speaker informed members that she had raised the request for clarification on what constituted “agreement” at the Business Committee with the Secretary of State once more. She advised that the Secretary of State had addressed the issue in a letter to her dated 1 June, and read the following extract to members:

“You asked for clarification of what constitutes “agreement” at the Business Committee. In a sense, this is a matter for the Committee itself to resolve. For my part, where there is unanimity within the Committee on a particular recommendation to me, it would be my intention to act on such a recommendation. But this is not to suggest that I would want to give the Committee – or parties within it – a veto over my discretion under the Northern Ireland Act 2006.”

The Speaker arranged for a copy of the Secretary of State’s letter to be distributed to members.

Following discussion, there was no dissent from the Speaker’s view that the Business Committee could not progress this issue further. There was debate about the level of agreement reached during meetings and how this might be recorded in future minutes.

2.2 Referring to paragraph 4 of the minutes, the Speaker confirmed that a meeting of the Preparation for Government Committee had been brought forward to 5 June, but that she had received no notice of any matters being referred by that Committee to the Business Committee. In response to a member’s question, the Speaker clarified that the Business Committee would not limit its consideration to matters referred by the Preparation for Government Committee, but that it would also consider Members’ motions for debate in the Assembly.

2.3 Referring to paragraph 5.2 of the minutes, the Speaker confirmed that the position regarding the ways in which two working groups might proceed was unchanged, in that no further motions (in the required format) had been tabled, no direction received from the Secretary of State and no referral made by the Preparation for Government Committee in relation to the working groups.

2.4 The Speaker reported the outcome of her discussions with the Head of the NI Civil Service on the issue raised at paragraph 6.6 of the minutes. There had been agreement that NICS officials would attend relevant debates and sit in the officials’ boxes. The Speaker asked Whips to remind their Members that officials should not be addressed during debates, and that any reference in debates should be to an official position, and not to a named individual.

3. Arrangements for forthcoming plenary meetings

3.1 Mr Murphy repeated his party’s earlier objections to holding debates. Indeed, he suggested that the strength of his party’s objections was growing.

3.2 In the absence of a referral from the Preparation for Government Committee, members representing the remaining four parties reconsidered the four motions that had been proposed at the last meeting.

3.3 There was general agreement among the four parties that a single debate should be held on Tuesday 6 June, with a debate time of four hours (and speaking times) agreed by all four parties.

3.4 The following views were recorded in relation to the four motions:

 The Industrial Rating motion was proposed by the SDLP for debate on Tuesday 6 June and this was supported by the UUPAG. The DUP proposed that all four motions should be referred to the Secretary of State, leaving the choice of motion for Tuesday 6 June to him. The remaining motions would then form business for subsequent plenary sittings. The Alliance Party supported this proposal.
 In supporting the proposal for a single motion, the UUPAG suggested the Review of Public Administration (RPA) motion, together with the Financial and Economic Package for Northern Ireland motion, as suitable motions for the following week. The SDLP supported the RPA motion for the following week but indicated its view that the economic package motion might be more appropriate for the Preparation for Government Committee. There were no further comments relating to the motion on the Bamford Review.

3.5 The level of agreement following discussions on the four motions was considered to represent agreement among the four parties that the Assembly should sit during week commencing 12 June 2006. However, representatives of the SDLP and Alliance Party put on record that this did not represent a commitment to long-term participation in debates.

4. Suggested Arrangements for Condolences

4.1 It was agreed to defer discussion of this matter for a further week.

5. Motions and Amendments

5.1 Members were given an explanation of an issue that had come to light following receipt of a number of duplicate motions from Members. It was agreed in principle that Members may table proposed amendments to a motion as soon as that motion appeared on the No Day Named list, and that these would be published weekly in a consolidated list of motions and proposed amendments. The Committee further agreed that motions and amendments should be published the day after tabling. It was agreed that these changes to procedures should be included in draft guidance on tabling motions and amendments, which members would consider at the next meeting.

6. Any Other Business

6.1 No other items of business were raised.

7. Date, Time and Venue of Next Meeting

7.1 It was agreed to meet on Tuesday 6 June 2006 at 12.30 in Room 106, Parliament Buildings, subject to the requirements of an Assembly sitting. The Speaker also raised the possibility that the Preparation for Government Committee might meet and refer matters to the Business Committee, and that this might require the Business Committee to meet earlier than planned.

The Speaker brought the meeting to a close at 4.05 pm.

The Speaker