Committees in the N.I assembly Innit.

So Ted, what are committees? Well Dougal, a committee is simply a group of around 11 MLA’s They are designated a particular focus, on which they fulfil a number of key roles. There have 3 main responsibilities; To Legislate To Scrutinise To Represent *HINT remember this by: Lagan School Rocks *

They use the D’Hondt system, which means the committee make-up mirrors the composition of the assembly. It also ensures that there must be co-operation between parties across the community. They chair of the assembly must be from the opposite designation of the minister responsible for it. So for example, The Minister for Education is John O’Dowd of S.F who is a designated nationalist, so the chair of the Committee for Education is Mervyn Storey of the DUP, a designated unionist. So how do they select the committees? DRINK!!!

So Barry what types of committees are there? There are 4 types Paul; Statutory Standing Ad Hoc Joint

Statutory Committees There is one for each government department and extra one for the office of the First and Deputy First. They are set up to: Advise, Assist and Scrutinise the ministers and their departments. They have power to: Advise ministers on new policies and budgets Consider secondary legislation and take Committee stage of primary legislation Initiate legislation Call for persons and papers.

So what have these committees actually done? In 2010, the head of NI Water was called to the committee to explain the company’s poor perpetration and outdated pipes. This situation meant that large areas of the countries where left at a stand still as business and schools could not run. You could say parts of Northern Ireland where at a freeze

What can committees actually do? Well committees have a number of powers which they can use such as Initiate inquires and make reports Call for persons or papers Initiate legislation Consider matters brought to their attention by minister Consider secondary legislation and take the committee stage of primary legislation Consider and advise on their department budget and annual plans in the context of the overall budget

What are joint committees will? Joint committees are temporary committees that have been formed to resolve an which involves more than 1 committee. An example of this is: In September 2010, the Committee for Finance and Personnel and the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment sat concurrently to consider the relationship between small businesses and the local banking sector.

Ad Hoc Committees are temporary committees the Assembly sets up to consider specific issues such as legislation on reserved or excepted matters. They usually have about two months to carry out their work and report to the Assembly. Right will then what about this Ad hoc thing?

Standing committees are permanent committees. There are currently 6 of them. 1.Business Committee 2. Audit Committee 3.Standards and Privileges Committee 4.Committee on Procedures 5.Public Accounts Committee 6. Assembly and Executive Review Committee Standing committees

By Tiarnan and Chris