Minutes of Proceedings
Session: 2011/2012
Date: 02 June 2011
Venue: Room 21
The meeting opened in closed session at 4.06pm.
1. Apologies
Mr Gerry Kelly
2. Minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2011
Members agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2011.
Members agreed that the Chairperson could approve the minutes of today’s meeting, so that an extract can be included in the Committee report.
3. Inquiry into Standing Orders for Principal Deputy Speaker
a) Consideration of draft amendments to Standing Orders
4.09pm Lord Morrow joined the meeting.
4.10pm Mervyn Storey joined the meeting.
The Committee considered the revised draft amendments to Standing Orders prepared by Assembly Legal Services. Jonathan McMillen from Legal Services explained the draft amendments and answered members’ questions.
The Committee considered each of the proposed amendments paragraph by
paragraph.
Amendment 1
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Amendment 2
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Amendment 3
The Committee considered each of the paragraphs within amendment 3.
Paragraph (1)
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (2)
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (3)
The Chairperson suspended the meeting for five minutes in order to marshal an amendment.
4.32pm Meeting suspended.
4.38pm Meeting reconvened in closed session with the same members present.
An amendment was proposed by Mr Allister:
“That we amend Standing Order 5(3) to reflect the procedure in Standing Order 4(4), namely that all nominations are taken before a vote/debate takes place.”
The question was put that the amendment be made.
The Committee divided on the amendment. Ayes 2; Noes 6.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The amendment accordingly fell.
The question was put that paragraph (3) be included as per the wording in the draft.
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (4)
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (5)
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (6)
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (6A)
The Committee divided. Ayes 8; Noes 0.
Ayes
Jim Allister
Trevor Clarke
Alban Maginness
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
-
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph (7)
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Agreed: Members agreed that the order of paragraphs (2) and (3) should
be reversed.
b) Draft Inquiry Report into Standing Orders for Principal Deputy Speaker
The Committee read the draft report on its Inquiry into Standing Orders for Principal Deputy Speaker paragraph by paragraph.
Front cover – agreed
Powers and Membership – agreed
Table of Contents – agreed
Abbreviations – agreed
Main Report
Paragraphs 1 – 7, agreed
Paragraphs 8 – 9, agreed, as amended
Paragraphs 10 – 12, agreed
Paragraphs 13 – 14, agreed, as amended
Paragraphs 15 – 16, agreed
Paragraphs 17 – 21, agreed, as amended
The Chairperson suspended the meeting for five minutes in order to marshal amendments.
5.04pm Meeting suspended.
5.10pm Meeting reconvened in closed session with the same members present.
Paragraph 22:
Mr Allister proposed that Paragraph 22 be amended to state that the role of Principal Deputy Speaker does not have any statutory basis.
The question was put that the amendment be made.
The Committee divided on the amendment. Ayes 2; Noes 6.
Ayes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
Noes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
The amendment accordingly fell.
The question was put on the original wording of Paragraph 22.
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraph 23 agreed, as amended
Paragraph 24 agreed
Paragraph 25:
Mr Maginness proposed that Paragraph 25 be amended to state that one of the options considered was that the post of Principal Deputy Speaker be filled by rotation among the existing Deputy Speakers on an annual basis.
The question was put that the amendment be made.
The Committee divided on the amendment. Ayes 2; Noes 6.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The amendment accordingly fell.
The question was put on the original wording of Paragraph 25.
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Paragraphs 26 – 28, agreed, as amended
Paragraphs 29 – 31, agreed
Paragraph 32:
Mr Clarke proposed that Paragraph 32 be removed.
The question was put that the amendment be made.
The Committee divided on the amendment. Ayes 6; Noes 0; Abstentions 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Abstentions
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Original Paragraphs 33 – 34, agreed
Original Paragraph 35:
Mr Allister proposed that the word “unanimously” be inserted in Paragraph 35, line 1.
The question was put that the amendment be made.
The Committee divided on the amendment. Ayes 8; Noes 0.
Ayes
Jim Allister
Trevor Clarke
Alban Maginness
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
-
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
Original Paragraph 36, agreed
Summary of Recommendations – agreed, as amended
Agreed: The inclusion of the following appendices was agreed:
Appendix 1 – Minutes of Proceedings
Appendix 2 – Minutes of Evidence
Appendix 3 – Written Submissions from Parties and Independent MLAs
Appendix 4 – Research Papers
Agreed: In view of the late timing of today’s meeting, it was agreed to
order the report to be printed on 3 June 2011.
Members confirmed that they had no suggested corrections to the Hansard
transcript from the meeting on 26 May 2011.
Agreed: The report will be embargoed until commencement of the
debate of the report in Plenary.
4. Forward Work Programme
Agreed: It was agreed that a draft Forward Work Programme, based on one meeting per month, would be considered at the next meeting to be held on 14 June 2011.
Agreed: It was agreed that the draftsperson who has been contracted to draft Standing Orders should be asked to brief the Committee at the meeting scheduled for 14 June 2011.
5. Motion to amend Standing Orders for Principal Deputy Speaker
The Committee considered a revised version of the motion to amend Standing
Orders, which had incorporated the amendments agreed at today’s meeting.
The Committee divided. Ayes 6; Noes 2.
Ayes
Trevor Clarke
Oliver McMullan
Lord Morrow
Sue Ramsey
George Robinson
Mervyn Storey
Noes
Jim Allister
Alban Maginness
The proposal accordingly was agreed to.
6. Any other Business
None.
7. Date, time and place of next meeting
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would take place on Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 1.30pm in Room 21, Parliament Buildings.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 5.40pm.
