THURSDAY 27 JANUARY 2000 AT 2.00 PM IN ROOM 144, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

Present: Mr F Cobain (Chairman) Ms M Gildernew (Deputy Chairperson) Sir J Gorman Mr B Hutchinson Mr D McClarty Mr D O'Connor Mr E ONeill Mr M Robinson Mr J Tierney Mr S Wilson

In Attendance: Mr G Martin Mr D Harkin Mr L Hart Ms V Surplus

1. Minutes of the Last Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

2. Matters Arising

i. Members have received copies of the draft Housing Selection Scheme Review.

ii. Members have received copies of the Compact document.

iii. The Clerk has requested a breakdown of each of the 26 District Councils' Community Services funding last year.

iv. The Clerk is making arrangements for officials from the Department of Finance to attend a Committee meeting to explain the capital receipts formula.

3. Presentation on the Budget by the Minister

Panel Members: Mr N Dodds, Minister Mr J Hunter, Permanent Secretary Mr C Radcliffe, Deputy Secretary Mr J McCormick, Housing Divison

The Chairman welcomed the Minister and his officials to the meeting at 2.10 pm, after which the Minister gave a short presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, which is summarised in Annex 4.

Mr Dodds emphasised that he wanted his relationship with the Committee to be open and facilitative, allowing the Committee to have a meaningful input in policy development at an early stage.

The Minister intends to review the Department's priorities in the context of housing reviews and to build on past successes in that area. For example, £201m will be used to build 1800 new houses this year along with tackling housing unfitness. A further £88m will go towards physical/social/environmental regeneration both urban and rural. He also pointed out though that a number of programmes would be subjected to significant cuts this year especially in relation to housing, urban regeneration and peace initiatives. In this context the Minister underlined the importance of targeting resources at social and economic needs of the most vulnerable.

Improvements in the delivery of the social security services will be sought to provide more cohesion, remove duplication, and develop the detection of benefit fraud abuse.

The Minister is keen to hear the Committee's views on the level of HE rent increases to be introduced from April 2000, which the previous Administration had planned as being 4.5% (in line with England). He explained that even with such an increase, there would be a £2.8m shortfall in the HE's planned income due to increased house sales and the corresponding fall in rent income. The Minister's view is that any rent increase over and above that previously planned would not be tolerable for tenants, but this would men efficiency savings would have to be found within the HE system.

The Chairman thanked the Minister and his officials for their presentation, and they left the meeting at 3.40 pm.

4. AOB

Agreed: The Committee will meet on Tuesdays to discuss its policy issues and will use its Thursday meetings to deal with all other business.

5. Date and Time of the Next Meeting

The Committee will meet next at 12.00 pm on Tuesday 1 February in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.

F COBAIN 

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

28 January 2000