Minutes of Proceedings - 02 April 2001

Present:
Mr Alban Maginness MLA, Chairperson
Sir John Gorman MLA, Deputy Chairperson
Mr Alex Attwood MLA
Mr Billy Bell MLA
Mr David Ervine MLA
Mr Denis Watson MLA

In Attendance:
Mr Tony Logue, Committee Clerk
Mrs Valerie Artt
Mr Damien McVeigh
Mr Hugh Widdis

10.28am the meeting opened in public session - the Clerk in the Chair.

1. Apologies

1.1. No apologies were received.

2.Election of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson

2.1. Mr Maginness was nominated by Sir John Gorman and seconded by Mr Watson. No further nominations were received and it was resolved that Mr Maginness do take the Chair.

10.30am Mr Maginness in the Chair.

2.2. Following nomination by Mr Bell and being seconded by Mr Watson it was agreed that Sir John Gorman would be the Deputy Chairperson.

3. Declaration of Interests

3.1. No interests were declared.

3.2. Sir John Gorman requested that his Directorship of Risk Management International (NI) Ltd be removed from the register.

4. Procedures of the Committee

The Chairperson referred members to a memorandum from the Committee Clerk on the procedures of the Committee contained in their briefing papers. The Committee agreed to the following procedures -

Witnesses - the Committee agreed to take evidence from relevant bodies as part of its proceedings.
Voting - the Committee agreed that in the absence of consensus, simple majority would determine all decisions. It was further agreed that the Committee's Report would seek to reflect the strengths of the different views expressed within the Committee.
Minutes of Evidence - the Committee agreed that in the event that any members are unable to attend an evidence session, the uncorrected Minutes of Evidence would be copied to those members for their information.
Public meetings - the Committee agreed that it would seek to hold as many meeting in public session as possible.

4.2. The Committee agreed that it would consider the matter of using deputies at a future meeting of the Committee.

5. Forward work programme

5.1. Members noted the Committee's Terms of Reference as agreed by the Assembly on Monday, 26 March 2001.

10.36am Mr Ervine joined the meeting.

5.2. Mr Widdis gave a short presentation to the Committee on his background briefing paper on the draft Proceeds of Crime Bill.

5.3. The Committee agreed to schedule evidence sessions for Tuesday, 24 April 2001 at 10.30am and Thursday, 26 April 2001 at 9.30am. The Committee also provisionally agreed to hold meetings on 1, 3 and 8 May 2001.

5.4. The Committee noted a memorandum from the Committee Clerk setting out a list of suggested witnesses. The Committee agreed to invite the following bodies -