End of Session Report 08/09

Remit:

The Committee on Standards and Privileges is a Standing Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly established in accordance with paragraph 10 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement and under Assembly Standing Orders, 50 and 57.

Powers:

The Committee has power:

• to consider specific matters relating to privilege referred to it by the Assembly;
• to oversee the work of the Assembly Clerk of Standards;
• to examine the arrangement for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the Assembly, and to review from time to time the form and content of those registers;
• to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it;
• to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches of any code of conduct to which the Assembly has agreed and which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention; and
• to recommend any modifications to any Assembly code of conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary.

Membership:

The membership of the Committee is as follows:

Mr Declan O’Loan, Chairperson ¹ 
Mr Willie Clarke, Deputy Chairperson ² 
Mr Allan Bresland 
Mr Francie Brolly 
Rev Dr Robert Coulter 
Mr Jonathan Craig ³ 
Mr David Hilditch 
Mr Paul Maskey ^4,5 
Mr Alastair Ross ⁶ 
Mr George Savage 
Mr Brian Wilson

¹ Mr Declan O’Loan replaced Mrs Carmel Hanna as Chairperson with effect from 3rd July 2009 
² Mr Clarke replaced Mr McHugh as Deputy Chairperson with effect from 21st January 2008. 
³ Mr Jonathan Craig replaced Mr Alex Easton as a Member of the Committee with effect from 15 September 2008.
⁴ Mrs McGill replaced Mr McHugh as a Member of the Committee with effect from 28th January 2008. 
⁵ Mr Maskey replaced Mrs McGill as a Member of the Committee with effect from 20 May 2008. 
⁶ Mr Ross replaced Mr Adrian McQuillan as a Member of the Committee with effect from 29th May 2007.

END OF SESSION REPORT

1. This is the end of session report of the Committee of Standards and Privileges of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2009.

The Assembly’s New Code of Conduct

2. The 2008/2009 session was a very significant session for the Committee on Standards and Privileges, as it completed its extensive review of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s existing Code of Conduct. The completion of this review enabled the Committee to agree unanimously to a new Code of Conduct which in turn was approved by the Assembly in June 2009 and which will come into force on 12 October 2009.

3. Recognising that it has never been more important to ensure that there is public trust and confidence in the integrity of elected representatives, the Committee agreed that the new Code of Conduct should introduce a number of changes designed to increase transparency and accountability.

4. The most significant changes are that Members will be required to register all outside earnings and the time they spend on these activities. They will also need to register family members who benefit from any Members’ Allowance, for example a family member who is employed through the Office Cost Allowance. The Assembly will also be able to suspend Members without pay if they are found to have breached the new Code.

5. The new Code of Conduct agreed by the Assembly will therefore provide a more transparent system to ensure that Members put public interest ahead of their private interests. It will establish openness and accountability as key elements of the Code and will maintain the integrity of the Assembly by holding Members to the high ethical standards expected of them by everyone in Northern Ireland.

Complaints against Members

6. During the 08/09 session Mr Tom Frawley continued to act as Interim Assembly Commissioner for Standards. In this role he carried out independent investigations into complaints against Members and reported back to the Committee. Ten complaints were referred to the Interim Commissioner during this session. In addition to these, the Interim Commissioner had seven cases to investigate which had been carried over from the previous session, and one further case, the investigation into which had been suspended for a period.

7. Of these eighteen cases, twelve have been completed. The completion of these cases led to the Committee publishing seven reports. Each of these reports set out the complaint, the Interim Commissioner’s investigation into the complaint and the Committee’s consideration of the issues and judgement on whether the Code of Conduct had been breached. In total, one complaint was upheld and a further complaint was partially upheld.

Review of Office Cost Allowances

8. As part of a report by the Committee into a complaint against a Member, the Committee called for an urgent review of the rules governing MLAs’ Office Cost Allowances. The Assembly Commission agreed to carry out such a review and this important work is well under way. 

Meetings

9. The Committee held 25 meetings during this session. Of these 22 were either closed or part closed. This reflects the fact that the Committee consider matters relating to complaints against Members in closed session. However, reports into complaints against members always include as an annex the detail of the Commissioner’s investigation.

Expenditure

10. Details of the Committee’s expenditure are shown in Annex A.

Key Priorities for next Session

11. The Committee will now turn its attention to the appointment of a Commissioner for Standards, having first given consideration to the most appropriate arrangements and circumstances in relation to such an appointment. The Committee will oversee the introduction of the new Code of Conduct, monitoring progress and considering as required any complaints against Members. The Committee will also approve and introduce new Regulations on All-Party Groups.

The Committee will continue to keep the issue of Members’ conduct under review and will not hesitate from taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the public can have confidence in the integrity of the Assembly and its Members.

ANNEX A

Committee on Standards and Privileges - Expenditure for the period 1 September 2008 – 31 August 2009