Minutes of Proceedings

The meeting began at 1.02pm

Present:

The Speaker
Ms P Bradshaw
Mr D Brooks
Mr T Clarke
Mrs S Ennis
Miss N McAllister
Mr C McGrath
Mr P McGuigan
Mr J Stewart

Observers:

Ms P Cameron Junior Minister
Mr D McCreedy Executive Office

In attendance:

Dr A McGarel Clerk of Business
Mr P Gill Clerk Assistant
Dr G McGrath Director of Parliamentary Services
Ms R Ellis Legal Adviser
Ms L Hogg Clerk/Chief Executive
Mr R Ramsey Adviser to the Speaker
Mr P Stitt PS to the Speaker
Ms P Devlin Assistant Assembly Clerk
Mr M O'Hare Clerical Supervisor

1 Apologies

1.1 Apologies were received from Claire Sugden, Tom Elliott and Cara Hunter.

2 Minutes of previous meeting

2.1 The minutes of the meeting on 27 February 2024 were agreed.
 

3 Matters Arising

3.1 The Committee agreed to take more time to consider the paper on options to allow the smaller parties and independent Members more plenary time. The Speaker suggested it would be helpful for Members to provide a written response.

3.2 The Committee agreed that the options paper should be recirculated and parties should submit their responses by email.

3.3 There were no other matters arising.

4 Order Papers and Indicative Timings for the Plenary Sittings during Week Commencing 11 March

Monday 11 March

4.1 The Committee noted that Members’ Statements remained scheduled.

4.2 The Committee agreed to schedule a Public Petition for Stephen Dunne on the Future of Ballycopeland Lighthouse and Café, Millisle.

4.3 The Committee noted a request from Mr Carroll to schedule a Public Petition, but agreed that the request should be declined as the petition was not compliant with Standing Order 22(3).

4.4 The Committee noted that a motion to appoint trustees to the Assembly Members’ Pension Scheme remained scheduled.

4.5 The Committee agreed to schedule a Committee Membership motion for the Alliance party.

4.6 Members noted that Question Time would be for the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

4.7 The Committee noted that a statutory rule for the Minister of Justice remained scheduled, but the Rates (Regional Rates) Order (NI) 2024 had been deferred until 12 March.

4.8 Members noted that the Minister of Health had scheduled a further three statutory rules, as follows:

1. The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Powers to Act for the Protection of Public Health) (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2022

2. The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Powers to Act for the Protection of Public Health) Order (Northern Ireland) 2023

3. The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Powers to Act for the Protection of Public Health) (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2023

4.9 The Committee agreed to schedule a single untimed debate for all three SRs.

4.10 The junior Minister advised that no further business was expected at that time.

4.11 The Committee noted that an all-party motion to mark International Women’s Day, and a Private Members’ motion for Alliance, remained scheduled.

4.12 The Speaker advised that after last week’s meeting, he had been advised that the Minister for Infrastructure would be unavailable to respond to the proposed DUP motion on Tuesday 12 March.

4.13 The Speaker stressed that he fully expects Ministers to be available on plenary sitting days, and on exceptional occasions where this is not possible, his preference is for another Minister to respond on their behalf.

4.14 The Speaker advised that as the Infrastructure Minister would be available on Monday 11 March, Alliance was willing to swap their motion with the DUP’s motion to enable both to receive a Ministerial response. The Speaker thanked both parties for facilitating a solution on this occasion.

4.15 The Committee agreed that the Alliance motion would move to Tuesday 12 March, and the DUP motion would be brought forward to Monday 11 March.

4.16 The Committee agreed the Order Paper for Monday 11 March 2024.

Tuesday 12 March

4.17 The Committee agreed that Members’ Statements should be retained at the beginning of the sitting.

4.18 Members noted that Question Time would be for the Minister for Communities.

4.19 The Committee noted that the Rates (Regional Rates) Order (NI) 2024, had been rescheduled for this date and agreed to schedule an untimed debate to consider it.

4.20 The junior Minister indicated that no further Executive business was expected.

4.21 The Speaker advised that Private Members motions for Sinn Féin and the DUP were scheduled on the provisional order paper last week and the Committee had just agreed to move the DUP motion to Monday 11 March and replace it with the Alliance motion.

4.22 The Speaker informed the Committee that the Sinn Féin motion called for action from the Minister for the Economy but that he had been advised that the Minister would not be available at all during week commencing 11 March.

4.23 The Speaker further explained that the adjournment debate scheduled last week for the DUP was for the attention of the Minister for Infrastructure, who was also not available on this date, and an adjournment debate cannot be moved to another day.

4.24 A Sinn Féin representative advised that the Finance Minister was willing to respond to the party’s motion in place of the Economy Minister.

4.25 The Speaker asked the junior Minister to confirm that another Minister would respond to the DUP’s scheduled adjournment debate.

4.26 The junior Minister indicated that she was unable to confirm this at that time but would come back to the Speaker.

4.27 A DUP representative asked if they would be permitted to substitute their chosen adjournment topic if no Minister was available to respond.

4.28 The Speaker replied that it was his expectation that a response would be given, and that the junior Minister would relay that message to the Executive.

4.29 The Committee agreed the Order Paper for Tuesday 12 March 2024.
 

5 Provisional Order Paper and Indicative Timings for the Plenary Sitting on 19 March

Tuesday 19 March

5.1 The Committee agreed to schedule Members’ Statements.

5.2 Members noted that Question Time was scheduled for the Executive Office and the Assembly Commission.

5.3 The Speaker advised that he had received a letter from the First and deputy First Ministers requesting that their Question Time slot is swapped with the Economy Minister’s slot in next term’s rota due to a late return from the USA.

5.4 The Speaker advised that they would be considering next term’s rota later in the meeting, but the current rota had been agreed and in place for weeks; the ballot for questions to TEO was already in process and so the request had come to the Committee much too late. The Speaker stated that this was poor practice and disrespectful to Members and to the Assembly and that he intended to write to the First Minister and deputy First Minister to remind them that their foremost duty is to the Assembly.

5.5 The Speaker also explained there was a broader issue in that they were considering this request alongside a number of other requests to swap motions due to Ministers not being available and reiterated that it is longstanding practice that Ministers should be available on sitting days in all but exceptional circumstances, including for additional business such as Urgent Oral Questions. The Speaker advised that while this was his firm position regarding ministerial availability, it was for the Committee to decide whether or not to allow the question time slots to be swapped.

5.6 A Sinn Féin representative proposed that the Committee agreed to the change on this occasion.

5.7 The SDLP representative accepted that the Executive Office should have notified the Committee sooner and supported the suggestion that the Speaker writes to the Executive to raise the Committee’s concerns but he concluded that on this occasion, the Committee should accommodate the swap.

5.8 The UUP representative was also in favour of writing to the Ministers to relay the Committee’s concerns, but supported the swap on this occasion.

5.9 An Alliance representative asked about the practical implications of the swap and was informed that Members would be asked to resubmit names for questions to the Economy Minister that afternoon and the ballot would take place the following day; that TEO would be responding to questions for two week in succession after Easter and that the Economy Minister would not be answering questions again for over a month.

5.10 The Speaker concluded that he was reluctant to allow the swap, but as it is the will of the Committee he would accept it.

5.11 The Committee agreed to allow the Executive Office to swap its scheduled Question Time on 19 March with the Minister for the Economy.

5.12 The Committee agreed that the Speaker would write to the Executive Office to inform them of the decision, and of the Committee’s expectations with regard to Ministers attending the Assembly.

5.13 Members noted that the Executive had scheduled six items of subordinate legislation.

5.14 The Committee agreed to schedule a single untimed debate for two statutory rules from the Minister for Communities, both relating to pneumoconiosis payments.

5.15 The Committee agreed to schedule an untimed debate to consider the Human Medicines (Amendments Relating to Coronavirus and Influenza) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 tabled by the Minister of Health.

5.16 The Committee agreed to schedule a single untimed debate for three statutory rules from the Minister for the Economy, all relating to parental bereavement and pay.

5.17 The Committee agreed to schedule the following Private Members’ motions:

• Addressing NI Water Challenges (UUP)
• End Holiday Hunger (SF)

5.18 The Committee agreed to schedule the following adjournment debate for the UUP:

• Craigavon City Park and Lakes should be designated as a Local Nature Reserve or a Fields in Trust

5.19 The Committee agreed the Provisional Order Paper for Tuesday 19 March 2024.

6 Draft Question Time Rota

6.1 The Committee agreed the Question Time rota for April – July having noted that the First Minster would be responding on behalf of TEO instead of the Minister for the Economy on Monday 8 April.

7 Any Other Business

7.1 The Committee noted correspondence from the Chairperson of the Committee on Procedures seeking input on potential priority areas of work to inform its forthcoming strategic planning session and agreed to return to the matter at a future meeting.

8 Date and Time of Next Meeting

8.1 The Speaker advised that the next meeting would take place at 1pm on Tuesday 12 March in room 106.

The Speaker brought the meeting to a close at 1.22pm.