Local Government Bill Marshalled List of Amendments Further Consideration Stage Tuesday 1 April 2014

Amendments tabled up to 9.30am Thursday, 27 March 2014 and selected for debate

Amendment 1            [Made on division]

Clause 3, Page 2, Line 8

At end insert -

‘(d) the House of Lords;’

Mr Jim Allister

Amendment 2            [Made without  division]

Clause 3, Page 2, Line 8

At end insert -

‘(e) the legislature of any other country,’

Mr Jim Allister

Amendment 3            [Made without division]

New Clause

After clause 3 insert -

‘Disqualification of councillors for being independent members of policing and community safety partnerships

3A.-(1) The Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 is amended as follows.

(2) In Schedule 1, in paragraph 9 (disqualifications) after sub-paragraph (2) insert-

“(2A) A person is disqualified for being an independent member of a PCSP if that person is a councillor.”.

(3) In Schedule 2, in paragraph 9 (disqualifications), after sub-paragraph (2) insert-

“(2A) A person is disqualified for being an independent member of a DPCSP if that person is a councillor.”.’

Mr Tom Elliott
Mr Danny Kinahan

Amendment 4            [Made without division]

Clause 4, Page 2, Line 14

At end insert -

‘(2) In section 4 of that Act, after subsection (1) insert-

“(1A) The Department must by 30 September 2014 make an order under subsection (1)(a).”.’

Mr Basil McCrea
Mr John McCallister

Amendment 5            [Made without division]

Clause 14, Page 6, Line 11

After ‘Section’ insert ‘6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 6            [Made without division]

Clause 18, Page 7, Line 19

At end insert -

‘(1A) A decision to operate executive arrangements or prescribed arrangements must be taken by a qualified majority.’

Ms Anna Lo
Mr Stewart Dickson
Mr Christopher Lyttle
Mr Kieran McCarthy

Amendment 7            [Made without division]

Clause 26, Page 13, Line 23

At end insert -

‘(2A) For the purpose of dealing with a matter of concern to more than one overview and scrutiny committee of the council, Standing Orders may provide for the council to appoint an ad hoc overview and scrutiny committee or for the relevant committees to sit concurrently.’

Mr John McCallister
Mr Basil McCrea

Amendment 8            [Made on division]

Clause 27, Page 13, Line 40

After ‘may’ insert ‘not’

Mr John McCallister
Mr Basil McCrea

Amendment 9            [Made without division]

Clause 27, Page 13, Line 40

Leave out from ‘only’ to the end of line 3 on page 14

Mr John McCallister
Mr Basil McCrea

Amendment 10          [Made without division]

Clause 31, Page 16, Line 19

At end insert -

‘unless, in accordance with Standing Orders, the overview and scrutiny committee deems the notice to require a prompt response in which case the notice must require the council or the executive to comply within one month’

Mr John McCallister
Mr Basil McCrea

Amendment 11          [Negatived without division]

New Clause

After clause 38 insert -

‘Multi-option referendum

38A. If more than two options have been proposed for a decision of the council, the council may take that decision by multi-option referendum in accordance with paragraph 9A of Schedule 5.’

Mr Steven Agnew

Amendment 12          [Negatived on division]

Clause 40, Page 21, Line 39

Leave out from the beginning to the first ‘council’

Mr Tom Elliott
Mr Danny Kinahan

Amendment 13          [Not moved]

Clause 40, Page 22, Line 1

Leave out paragraph (b)

Mr Tom Elliott
Mr Danny Kinahan

Amendment 14          [Made without division]

Clause 41, Page 23, Line 15

At end insert -

‘(7A) But a council shall permit during proceedings the use of social media by councillors, members of the public or journalists, to the extent that its use does not disrupt proceedings.’

Ms Anna Lo
Mr Stewart Dickson
Mr Christopher Lyttle
Mr Kieran McCarthy

Amendment 15          [Made without division]

As an amendment to Amendment 14

After the first ‘proceedings’ insert ‘which are open to the public’

Mr Peter Weir
Ms Pam Cameron
Mr Ian McCrea
Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley

Amendment 16          [Made without division]

Clause 45, Page 26, Line 8

At end insert -

‘and

(d) for the purposes of sections 43(3) and 44(6) the council’s website is treated as the website of the committee or sub-committee’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 17          [Negatived on division]

Clause 46, Page 26, Line 20

Leave out subsection (2)

Ms Anna Lo
Mr Stewart Dickson
Mr Christopher Lyttle
Mr Kieran McCarthy

Amendment 18          [Made without division]

Clause 59, Page 35, Line 3

At end insert -                                                                                                        

‘(10) An appeal under subsection (9) may be made¾

(a) against the suspension (or partial suspension);

(b) against the length of the suspension (or partial suspension).’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 19          [Negatived on division]

Clause 65, Page 39, Line 5

Leave out ‘in accordance with’ and insert ‘and good relations between the categories of persons listed in’

Ms Anna Lo
Mr Stewart Dickson
Mr Christopher Lyttle
Mr Kieran McCarthy

Amendment 20          [Made without division]

Clause 65, Page 39, Line 6

At end  insert -

‘without prejudice to this, having regard to the desirability of promoting good relations; and’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 21          [Negatived on division]

Clause 65, Page 39, Line 22

At end insert -

‘(7) For the purposes of this section the reference to good relations shall involve, in particular, having regard to the need to a) tackle prejudice and b) promote understanding between the categories of persons listed in section 75(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 22          [Made on division]

Clause 111, Page 63, Line 17

At end insert -

‘(2C) The Department must within two years of the making of an order under paragraph (2A) lay before the Assembly a report on the operation of any transitional rate relief scheme under that paragraph including¾

(a) the Department’s assessment of the likely or actual percentage increase in district rates payable by ratepayers in each affected district as a consequence of the termination of the scheme; and

(b) consideration of possible further mitigating measures.’

Mr Tom Elliott
Mr Danny Kinahan

Amendment 23          [Negatived without division]

New Clause

After clause 117 insert -

‘Public bodies to support employees seeking election to council

Public bodies to support employees seeking election to council

117A. A public body, other than a council, must to the extent that it is reasonably practicable, support and facilitate any employee, other than its chief executive or directors, in seeking election as a councillor including—

(a) offering unpaid leave for the three-week period prior to local government elections;

(b) actively seeking to overcome perceived conflicts of interest.’

Mr Basil McCrea
Mr John McCallister

Amendment 24          [Made without division]

Clause 125, Page 70, Line 17

Leave out ‘and 123’ and insert ‘, 123 and 126’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 25          [Made without division]

Schedule 1, Page 78, Line 22

Leave out ‘nomination is made’ and insert ‘member is nominated or elected, as the case may be,’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 26          [Made without division]

Schedule 1, Page 78, Line 26

After ‘nominated’ insert ‘or elected’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 27          [Made without division]

Schedule 2, Page 79, Line 21

At end insert -

‘(6) If the figures given by sub-paragraph (5) in relation to two or more parties are equal, the nominating officer of whichever of those parties is the party for which the greatest number of first preference votes was cast at the last local general election is to be treated as the nominating officer of the party with the greatest remainder for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4), then the nominating officer of whichever of those parties is the party for which the next greatest number of first preference votes was cast at the last local general election and so on.’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 28          [Made on division]

Schedule 2, Page 80, Line 5

Leave out ‘Regulations’ and insert ‘Standing orders’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 29          [Not called]

Schedule 5, Page 83, Line 39

At end insert -

‘Decision by multi-option referendum

9A.—(1) If a council decides to use a multi-option referendum to take a decision, the clerk will provide all members with a ballot paper setting out the options proposed.

(2) The chair will ask members to mark the ballot paper to rank the options in order of preference.

(3) In circumstances where there are n options and a councillor has ranked all options, preferences on a ballot papers are scored as follows—

(a) a first preference gets n points;

(b) a second preference gets n-1 points;

(c) a third preference gets n-2 points,

and so on.

(4)  Where a councillor does not rank all options, preferences on a ballot paper are scored as follows—

(a) if a first preference only is indicated, this scores 1 point;

(b) if first and second preference are indicated, these score 2 points and 1 point respectively,

and so on.

(5) The chair will announce the scores for each option and the option which has scored the highest number of points shall be the decision of the council.

(6) In the event that two or more options score the same number of points the decision may be made between those options by simple majority.

(7) The Department may by order amend the procedures in this paragraph.’

Mr Steven Agnew

Amendment 30          [Made without division]

Schedule 9, Page 93, Line 8

After ‘6’ insert ‘of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 31          [Made without division]

Schedule 10, Page 93, Line 27

Leave out ‘Schedules 1 and’ and insert ‘Schedule’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 32          [Made without division]

Schedule 10, Page 93, Line 29

Leave out ‘6,’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 33          [Made without division]

Schedule 10, Page 94, Line 6

Leave out ‘and (3)’

Minister of the Environment

Amendment 34          [Made without division]

Schedule 10, Page 94

Leave out line 29

Minister of the Environment

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