Minutes of Proceedings

12.34p.m. The meeting opened in closed session.

1.      Apologies

There were no apologies received.

2.      Minutes of the meeting on 15 November 2011

The minutes of the meeting on 15 November 2011 were agreed.

3.    Correspondence 

12.36pm Ms Gildernew joined the meeting   

Late receipt of papers from departments
Agreed: The Group noted correspondence from the Education Committee on the late receipt of papers from the Department of Education and agreed to write to the Statutory Committees requesting that the issue be raised with their respective departmental officials. 

Correspondence from the OFMDFM Committee
The Liaison Group noted correspondence from the OFMDFM Committee on the membership of its European Advisory Panel.

Leaking of classified documentation to the media
The Group noted correspondence from Mr Tom Frawley, Interim Assembly Commissioner for Standards, on the investigation into the apparent leaking of a draft report of the Public Accounts Committee.

4.      Fuel Poverty Event

12.43pm Mr Storey joined the meeting
The Group received briefing on the Social Development Committee’s fuel poverty event on 16 November 2011 from Mr Maskey and Mr Kevin Pelan, clerk to the Committee for Social Development.

12.52pm Mr Frew left the meeting

12.54pm Mr Moutray and Mr Ross left the meeting

12.57pm Mr Elliott joined the meeting

12.58pm Mr Maskey left the meeting

5.      Electronic Committee Packs

1.01pm Mr McCrea joined the meeting
The Group noted a paper and received an update on the work currently being undertaken by the Secretariat to provide electronic committee packs for committee meetings.
Agreed: The Group agreed to forward the paper to the Committee on Procedures to assist its work on the use of electronic devices in committee.

6.      Committee Expenditure to December 2011

1.08pm Mr Magennis left the meeting

1.10pm Miss McIlveen joined the meeting 

The Group received and noted an update on committee expenditure from April 2011 to December 2011 and on the revised budget allocations resulting from the January 2012 monitoring round.

7.      Public Notices

Agreed: The Group noted a paper on a proposal to advertise committee calls for evidence in community based newspaper and agreed to provide the information to committee clerks to consider using as and when appropriate.

1.15pm Mr Givan and Mr Storey left the meeting

8.      Revised Future Work Programme

Agreed: The Liaison Group noted and agreed the revised forward work programme for the 2011-2012 session.

9.      Any other business
No other items of business were discussed.

10.  Date, time and venue of next meeting

The next meeting of the Liaison Group will take place on Tuesday 21 February 2012 at 12.30pm in Room 21, Parliament Buildings.

1.16pm The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.

Mr Alex Maskey, Deputy Chairperson
21 February 2012