ANNEX B

"CODE OF PRACTICE"

Introduction

1. The Possible Outline Framework for new political institutions in Northern Ireland (Annex A) says that a "Code of Practice" would specify the respective roles, responsibilities and decision-taking powers of Departments, Assembly Committees and the Assembly at large. This paper draws on existing practice and precedent to suggest a possible specification.

2. It was proposed by the UDUP and agreed by the UUP and the Alliance Party that the paper should also suggest a possible basis for distinguishing the relative roles and responsibilities of Committee Chairmen and Committees in circumstances where executive responsibilities rested with Departmental Committees of the Assembly and/or their Chairmen. The SDLP reserved its position on the source of the authority of Heads of Departments and their relationship with the Departmental Committees; and on the arrangements for legislation in the transferred field.

Departments

3. Under any new political arrangements, each Department would have the following roles and responsibilities:

(a) to administer programmes fairly and efficiently;

(b) to administer programmes in a way conducive to promoting good community relations and equality of treatment;

(c) to implement agreed policy and to support the Head of the Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee in seeking to develop and secure support for proposed policies;

(d) to advise the Head of the Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee on proposed policy changes, on new initiatives or on the handling of particular issues with a degree of political significance;

(e) to liaise with other Departments on matters where there are overlapping interests so that co-ordinated or at least complementary advice can be put to the respective Heads of Departments and/or the relevant Departmental Committees;

(f) to maintain official-level contact with relevant organisations and interest groups within Northern Ireland and with relevant bodies elsewhere with a view to promoting the policy objectives set for the Department and ensuring that it is in a position to advise the Head of Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee on developments, and to respond to those developments;

(g) to participate in the public expenditure survey cycle, led by DFP, and to advise the Head of Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee during the process of determining the Department's budget and in determining allocations between programmes;

(h) to have due regard to the requirements of public accountability;

( i) to keep its internal structures, management systems and resources under review to ensure they are adequate to meet requirements;

(j) to make certain public appointments and, in consultation with the Central Secretariat, to advise the Head of Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee on other public appointments within the Department's sphere of responsibility;

(k) to assist the Head of the Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee to respond to representations, whether from elected representatives or other interest groups;

(l) to advise the Head of Department and/or the relevant Departmental Committee on measures to promote awareness of and to attract public support for current or proposed policies.

Assembly Committees

4. A Business Committee would be established to co-ordinate Assembly business.

5. A General Purposes Committee, the members of which could include the Chairmen of Departmental Committees, would be established to assist in co-ordinating the interests of the relevant Committees in respect of issues which cross Departmental boundaries.

6. Other non-Departmental Committees might be established to act as a focus for the Assembly interest in particular areas, such as non-transferred matters, cultural expression and diversity and relationships with bodies or institutions outside Northern Ireland.

7. Annex B1 suggests a basis for distinguishing the relative roles and responsibilities of Departmental Committee Chairmen and Committees. As noted in paragraph 2 above, the SDLP reserved its position on this point.

8. Departmental Committees might have the following roles and responsibilities:

(a) to participate in the arrangements for determining the Department's budgetary allocations, possibly on the lines set out in Annex B2;

(b) to scrutinise the work of the relevant Department and non-Departmental public bodies;

(c) to hold hearings, whether public or private, for which purpose it would have powers to compel the attendance of relevant persons and call for papers;

(d) to prepare reports, with recommendations including proposals for legislation, on major policy issues. These might involve liaison with other Departmental Committees, including the Finance Committee;

(e) to consider legislation in the transferred field, including considering proposals for new legislation and taking at least the Committee stage of relevant primary legislation unless the Assembly, on the recommendation of the Business Committee or the General Purpose Committee, decides otherwise. Committees might also debate secondary legislation;

(f) to act as a forum for the expression of local political views on the area of responsibility of the relevant Department.

9. In drawing up reports, making recommendations and debating legislation Departmental Committees would operate on the basis of majority decision-taking in respect of routine non-contentious matters. There could, however, be provision for weighted voting in certain circumstances especially in respect of contentious matters; or for dissenting reports; or for a significant minority on any Committee to have power to defer the consideration of proposed legislation or administrative actions or to refer such issues for consideration by the Assembly at large.

The Assembly at large

10. The Assembly at large might be expected to have at least the following main roles and responsibilities:

(a) to elect a Speaker (by a weighted majority vote of say 70%);

(b) to appoint the Chairmen, Deputy Chairmen and members of Departmental and other Committees. The Chairmanships and Deputy Chairmanships (at least) of the Departmental Committees might be allocated by a formula, perhaps the D'Hondt procedure calculated on the basis of political party strengths in the Assembly following the elections. Other arrangements might be made to determine the allocation of individual members to Committees though each party should have a share of the total Committee places broadly proportional to its strength in the Assembly;

(c) to hold Heads of Departments and/or the relevant Departmental Committee accountable for the work of their Department through

- Questions

- adjournment debates

- debates on Statements

- emergency debates

- consideration of reports from Departments

- consideration of minutes and reports from Departmental Committees

- consideration of reports from

----Comptroller and Auditor General

----Examiner of Statutory Rules?

----Ombudsman

----FEC

----EOC

----other statutory bodies

(possibly on the basis of further reports from the relevant Committee);

(d) (subject to the SDLP's reservation on arrangements for legislation in the transferred field) to legislate in the transferred field (and in the excepted or reserved field where ancillary to Westminster legislation or with the consent of the Secretary of State). The precise distribution of the legislative process as between Committees and the full Assembly may require further consideration. Different arrangements might apply in respect of primary and secondary legislation (whether subject to affirmative resolution or negative resolution).

Legislation would require the support of at least a majority of the full Assembly. Certain important legislation (eg a financial measure, one with constitutional implications or significant implications for community relations) could require weighted majority approval, of say 70%. Other legislation could require weighted majority approval if it was deemed to be contentious by the Business Committee or a petition to that effect secured a certain threshold of say 30% support in the Assembly;

(e) where requested, to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on certain legislation in the reserved field to be made at Westminster;

(f) to consider minutes and reports from the Business Committee and any other non-Departmental Committees which might be established;

(g) to refer certain issues (on the basis of a threshold level of say 30% support in the Assembly) for consideration by the Panel. Those issues might include proposed legislation and administrative actions;

(h) to act as a forum for the expression of political views within Northern Ireland.

ANNEX B1

THE RELATIVE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN AND COMMITTEES

1. In circumstances where executive responsibilities rested with Departmental Committees of the Assembly the efficient conduct of business and the need to ensure an appropriate, fair and significant role for all main traditions in Northern Ireland would require clear guidance to be drawn up on the respective roles of Committee Chairmen and the Committees as a whole.

2. Administratively, it would be appropriate for Chairmen alone (and perhaps Deputy Chairmen in certain circumstances) to have full access to Departmental officials and papers in the same way as Ministers do at present. It could also be appropriate for the Committee as a whole to be serviced by Assembly staff, rather than Departmental staff. The Committee's power to call for persons and papers would enable it to have access to Departmental officials and papers but conventions would need to be established to preserve the distinct role of the Chairmen and protect certain information which requires to be kept confidential (eg relating to inward investment decisions).

3. The Committee would have a significant role in determining policy directions, eg through being required to authorise the Departmental Estimates going before the Assembly, to approve the Department's bid to the Business Committee for a legislative programme for the year and to approve capital expenditure decisions above a certain level. It could also establish broad lines of policy in particular areas on foot of reports it might make following detailed consideration of a particular issue.

4. The Chairman, supported by the Department, could be expected to have a major influence on all such decisions but would then be expected to act in conformity with them.

5. At the level of day-to-day administration, decisions could be categorised in a number of ways. One possibility would be to distinguish:

a. those which Departments would make on their own initiative;

b. those which in the judgement of the Committee Chairman would not require prior Committee approval and which the Committee Chairman would make on his or her own initiative, within the general policy framework established by the Committee (see paragraph 3). All or some of these would be notified to the Committee as a whole, giving the Committee an opportunity to indicate its satisfaction or otherwise and to determine whether similar decisions should in future be handled in a different way or brought to the Committee for consideration;

c. those which in the judgement of the Committee Chairman would require the prior approval of the Committee as a whole. Some guidance would be drawn up in advance to illustrate which types of decision would be likely to fall into this category. The circumstances of the individual Northern Ireland Departments vary and it is unlikely that a standard formula could apply equally to all; but the types of decision which would be politically sensitive or crucial to the Department in policy terms, are likely to be reasonably clear in each case.

Footnote

Arrangements on these lines could result in a Committee Chairman being held accountable (see paragraph 10(c) of Annex B) in the Assembly for policies which he or she did not personally support. In those circumstances arrangements analogous to those which apply when an Accounting Officer is overruled by his or her political Head might come into play and enable the Chairman to discharge the accountability requirement by pointing to a formal record of his or her views being overriden by the Committee.

ANNEX B2

DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETARY ALLOCATION PROCESS

1. This note sets out arrangements for determining Departments' budgetary allocations in the circumstances where executive responsibilities rested with Departmental Committees of the Assembly. The SDLP reserved its position on these arrangements.

2. Each Department would build up its bid for resources through participation in the normal Public Expenditure Survey mechanisms. The relevant Departmental Committee would be invited to endorse the Department's bid before it was finalised. The Finance Committee would then consider all the bids and seek to produce an agreed allocation between Departments of the available resources. If it failed the matter might be referred to the Panel for arbitration.

3. Once each Department's allocation was settled the Chairman would propose Departmental Estimates for the coming year to the Committee and seek its approval, line by line, to the detailed distribution of that allocation to individual Departmental programmes.

4. The approved Departmental Estimates would then be put formally to the full Assembly whose role would be to authorise expenditure on the basis of those Estimates.

Footnote

This is very much a broad outline of how the arrangements might work. The Public Expenditure Survey procedures are complex and iterative and many detailed adjustments would need to be made to bring them fully into line with the principles set out above.

• Code of Practice (introduced on 1992-06-10 09:00:00 - CREATE - e899419) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]
  • None (introduced on 1992-06-10 09:00:00 - ADOPT_PROPOSAL - e473692) [view current proposal at this moment]