Minutes of Proceedings

1.         Introduction and Apologies

1.1       Apologies were noted from Mr P Maskey and Mr S Dickson.

2.         Minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2012

2.1       The minutes of the meeting held on 7 February were agreed and signed by the Speaker.  

3.         Matters arising

3.1       There were no matters arising.

4.         Finalisation of Order Papers for Week Commencing 20 February 2012

Executive Business

4.1      Members noted that there were no changes to Executive Business previously agreed.

Committee Business

4.2      Members noted that no additional Committee Business had been requested.

Private Members’ Business

4.3      In the absence of an Alliance party representative Mr Weir proposed that consideration be given to switching the Alliance Party motion on Decade of Centenaries to 27 February, to facilitate a response from the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and replacing it with one from SDLP as that party had the next choice. Mr Ramsey agreed and the following motion was proposed:

• ‘Welfare Reform’ (Mr M Durkan, Dr A McDonnell, Ms M Ritchie, Mrs D Kelly).

Members agreed to schedule the motion for Monday 20 February with the usual speaking times.

Other Business

4.4      Members also agreed to schedule the presentation of a public petition by Mrs Dolores Kelly on Monday 20 February 2012, and a DUP motion to change committee memberships.

4.5      The Order Papers were agreed.

5          Provisional arrangements for Plenary meetings in week commencing 27 February 2012

Executive Business

5.1       Members noted that, in addition to Question Time to the Minister for Employment and Learning and the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, the Final Stage of the Budget Bill had been scheduled for Monday 27 February 2012.

5.2       Members noted that apart from Question Time to the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Finance and Personnel no other Executive business had been scheduled for Tuesday 28 February.

Committee Business

5.3       Members noted that no Committee Business had been requested.

Private Members’ Business

5.4      Members agreed to schedule one Private Members’ motion on Monday 27 and two on Tuesday 28 February 2012.

5.5      Following the earlier agreement on a switch of selections (see para 4.3) the following motion was scheduled for Monday 27 February:

• ‘Decade of Centenaries’ (Mr C Lyttle, Mr S Dickson, Ms A Lo, Mr T Lunn).

Under the system of allocation for Private Members’ motions the selections lay with Sinn Féin and DUP.

The following motions were proposed and scheduled for Tuesday 28 February:

• ‘Media Stakeholder Forum’ (Mr C Ó hOisín, Mr O McMullan, Mr P Sheehan); and
• ‘Securing Undeveloped Sites’ (Miss M McIlveen, Mr P Weir).

5.6      Members agreed that up to 1 hour 30 minutes should be allocated for each of the debates, with the usual speaking times.

5.7      Members agreed to schedule an Adjournment Debate on Tuesday 28 February 2012. Under the system for allocating Adjournment Debates, the selection lay with Alliance.

In the absence of an Alliance representative the Committee agreed to schedule the following topic:

• ‘Support for children and young people with cancer in East Belfast’ (Mrs J Cochrane).

5.8       The Junior Ministers advised that all relevant Ministers were available to respond.

6.         Date and Time of next meeting

6.1       Members agreed to meet at approximately 12.30pm on Tuesday 21 February 2012 in Room 106.

The Speaker brought the meeting to a close at 12.35.

Mr William Hay
Speaker