Minutes of Proceedings
Session: 2009/2010
Date: 12 January 2010
Venue: Room 106
The meeting began at 12.32 pm
1. Introduction
1.1 The Speaker noted apologies from junior Minister Kelly, Mr Billy Armstrong and Ms Car ál N í Chuil ín.
2. Minutes of the meeting held on 5 January 2010
2.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 5 January were agreed and signed by the Speaker.
3. Finalisation of Order Papers for Plenary meetings in week commencing 18 January 2010
Executive Business
3.1 Members noted the proposal for Ministerial Statements on Monday 18 January by the Minister of Education on the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Education Sectoral format, and the Minister for Social Development on the British-Irish Council Ministerial meeting.
3.2 Members noted there were no further changes to the draft Order Paper for Tuesday 19 January.
4. Provisional Arrangements for Plenary meetings in week commencing 25 January 2010
Executive Business
4.1 Members noted that the only Executive Business notified for Monday 25 January was for Question Time to the Minister of Education and the Minister for Employment and Learning.
4.2 In addition to Question Time to the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, members noted that the Second Stage of the Roads (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill and the Consideration Stage of the Water and Sewerage Services (Amendment) Bill was scheduled for Tuesday 26 January.
Private Members’ Business
4.3 Members agreed to schedule two Private Members’ motions on Monday 25 January and one motion on Tuesday 26 January.
Under the system of allocating Private Members’ Business, the DUP, SDLP and UUP had one slot each.
Mr Ramsey drew attention to a cross-party motion on Special Educational Needs, and Mr Cobain agreed to defer his party’s selection in favour of the cross-party motion.
The following motions were, therefore, proposed:
- Protestant Student Numbers Attending Northern Ireland Universities (Mr A Easton, Mr J Craig, Mr T Buchanan);
- Independent Review of Policy on the Location of Public Sector Jobs (The Bain Review) (Mr P Ramsey, Mr D O’Loan, Mrs D Kelly); and
- The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (Mr D Bradley, Mr B McCrea, Mr T Lunn, Mr M Storey, Mrs M O’Neill).
4.4 Members agreed to schedule the ‘ Protestant Student Numbers Attending Northern Ireland Universities’ and ‘Independent Review of Policy on the Location of Public Sector Jobs (The Bain Review)’ motions for Monday 25 January, and the ‘The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs’ motion for Tuesday 26 January. Members agreed that up to 1 hour 30 minutes should be allocated for the debates, with the usual speaking times.
4.5 Members agreed to schedule an adjournment debate on Tuesday 26 January. Under the system for allocating adjournment debates, the selection lay with Sinn F éin.
Sinn F éin selected the following adjournment debate:
- West Belfast Tourism Podcast Initiative (Mr P Maskey).
Members agreed to schedule the adjournment debate on ‘West Belfast Tourism Podcast Initiative’ (Mr P Maskey) on Tuesday 26 January.
4.6 Junior Minister Newton confirmed that all relevant Ministers were available to respond to the selected motions and adjournment debate.
5. AOB
5.1 The Speaker placed on the record his thanks to Whips for their help in ensuring that the Matter of the Day on Monday 11 January was conducted with appropriate dignity, and for their cooperation in relation to handling the Urgent Oral Question later that day.
6. Date and Time of next meeting
6.1 Members agreed to meet at approximately 12.30 pm on Tuesday 19 January 2010 in Room 106.
The Speaker brought the meeting to a close at 12.44pm.
