Minutes of Proceedings
Session: 2010/2011
Date: 14 September 2010
Venue: Room 21
The meeting opened at 11.03 am in public session.
1. Apologies
Ms Margaret Ritchie.
Mr Maskey joined the meeting at 11.04 am.
Mr Bell joined the meeting at 11.05 am.
The Chairperson welcomed Mr Jonathan Bell, who replaced Mr Nigel Dodds MP, to his first Committee meeting.
Agreed: Members agreed to send a letter to Mr Dodds acknowledging his valuable contribution to the Committee and wishing him well in the future.
2. Minutes of Proceedings of meeting held on 29 June 2010
Members agreed the Minutes of Proceedings of the meeting held on 29 June 2010.
3. Matters arising
The Chairperson referred Members to the research papers contained in the meeting pack.
Agreed: Members agreed to invite the Researcher to brief the Committee at the meeting on Tuesday 28 September 2010.
4. Chairperson’s Business
None.
5. Forward Work Programme / 6. Correspondence
Some discussion took place on the content of the Forward Work Programme.
Mr Kennedy joined the meeting at 11.10 am.
The Chairperson welcomed the Clerk to his first meeting and him to brief the Committee on correspondence forwarded from the Speaker which he received from the Secretary of State inviting comment on the impact on the Assembly by The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill and also the need for the Committee to review sections 16A – 16C of the NI Act 1998.
Agreed: Members agreed that parties would present their views on these two issues by 7 October to allow discussion to take place at the meeting on 12 October 2010.
Agreed: Members agreed to issue a letter to the Speaker acknowledging his letter of 7 September 2010 on Electoral Reform and advising that the Committee had commenced consideration of this matter.
7. End-of-Mandate Report
Agreed: Members agreed that this is an accurate reflection of the work of the Committee over the last year.
8. Any other Business
Agreed: Members agreed that they had no issues to raise regarding their records of attendance at this Committee.
8. Date, time and place of next meeting
The next meeting of the Committee will take place in Room 21 on 28 September 2010 at 11.00 am.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 11.23 am.
