Standing Committee on Economic Initiatives First
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PP 70/10 STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC INITIATIVES FIRST REPORT 2009-2010 REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC INITIATIVES The Hon S C Rodan SHK (Garff) Chairman Mr C G Corkish MHK (Douglas West) Mr G D Cregeen MHK (Malew & Santon) Mr T M Crookall MHK (Peel) Mr J P Watterson MHK (Rushen) At the sitting of Tynwald Court in July 1999 it was resolved that a Standing Committee of five Members be established. As amended in January 2004, the remit of the Committee is - To monitor and consider economic, fiscal and monetary initiatives of the European Union, international agencies and states, and economic factors generally, which may affect the Isle of Man and to report with or without recommendations each July, and such other times as the Committee deem necessary. The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of Tynwald are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984. Copies of this Report may be obtained from the Tynwald Library, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PW (Tel 01624 685520, Fax 01624 865522) or may be consulted at www.tynwald.org.im All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PW FIRST REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC INITIATIVES JUNE 2010 To The Hon Noel Q Cringle MLC, President of Tynwald, and the Hon Keys and Council in Tynwald assembled INTRODUCTION 1. On Wednesday 17th February Tynwald agreed that Government functions be reorganised under nine Departments, six of which will be entirely new. The new structure was put in place on 1st April 2010; the re-structuring was designed to enhance the focus which the Government gives to economic activities and to social care. 2. One member of this Committee (Mr Watterson) submitted a paper to us in March, which we print as the Annex to this report. We note that he has put down a motion for consideration by Tynwald Court in June as follows: That a system of Standing Committees relating to the work of Government Departments should be established; and that the Tynwald Management Committee should investigate and report on the best means of establishing such a system. 3. One of the most widely recognised benefits claimed or advocated for the new structure is the enhanced concentration on economic development which the 3 new Department of Economic Development can carry forward. Clearly, in practical terms the work of this Committee will need to take this new Department’s work into account, whatever decision is made about the structure of Tynwald committees. We intend to concentrate this Committee’s efforts on scrutinising the new Department of Economic Development, which has a key role to play in the development of the Island's economy. 4. Nonetheless, we are aware that several committees have a potentially overlapping interest in this area of work. Careful thought needs to be given to the division of responsibility between the Public Accounts Committee, the Scrutiny Committee and the Economic Initiatives Committee. We would not wish to duplicate the work of other committees and either run the risk of placing too great a burden on the civil service or create a confusing message arising from possibly conflicting conclusions and recommendations. The detailed scrutiny of the actions of one Department will necessarily create areas of substantial overlap within the current committee structure and we hope that the Court will consider that issue when it debates Mr Watterson’s motion, the principle of which we support. S C Rodan (Chairman) C G Corkish G D Cregeen T M Crookall J P Watterson June 2010 4 ANNEX 1 Paper for Standing Committee on Economic Initiatives Juan Watterson MHK Background 1. In 2006, a Select Committee of Tynwald investigated the structure of scrutiny within Tynwald.1 That report made a significant number of recommendations (see Appendix 1) and essentially forms the basis for our current scrutiny system in providing for the following bodies: 1.1. Public Accounts Committee (PAC) 1.2. Scrutiny Committee (SC) 1.3. Standing Committee on Economic Initiatives (SCEI) 1.4. Standing Committee on Constitutional Matters (SCCM) the remits for most of these committees are in Appendix 1. 2. In brief, this structure provided for: 2.1. the PAC to oversee the use of Government funds 2.2. the Scrutiny Committee to review secondary legislation 2.3. the Standing Committee on Economic Initiatives to look at initiatives and legislation of the European Union, international agencies and states, and economic factors generally, which may affect the Isle of Man 2.4. the Standing Committee on Constitutional Matters to report on the Council of Ministers’ policy and approach to matters of constitutional importance, and any treaties, international agreements etc 3. In February 2010, the Council of Ministers published their proposals for a significant change in the structure of Government. This therefore seems like an ideal time to review the success of the present structure and consider alternatives going forward. Present Scrutiny Structure 4. The present structure splits the work of Tynwald Court according to its type, i.e.: 4.1. Financial (PAC) 4.2. Secondary legislation (SC) 4.3. Economic and European (SCEI) 4.4. Constitutional (SCCM) 1 Select Committee on Scrutiny and the Functions of the Standing Committee on Expenditure and Public Accounts http://www.tynwald.org.im/papers/reports/2005-2006/r0027.pdf 5 This still leaves significant gaps between the issues that Tynwald Members scrutinise, debate and vote on and the scrutiny structure that assists the non- Ministers in undertaking that. Examples of areas left uncovered include Council of Ministers appointments, Departmental policies not established by way of Tynwald decision and the activities of Departments. Scrutiny of these functions are undertaken on an ad hoc basis via questions in Tynwald Court or the branches. 5. Whilst the PAC enjoys considerable status and has an equivalent in most Commonwealth jurisdictions, the picture is far more mixed with regards to other committees. The UK’s European Scrutiny Committee considers each of the approximately 1,100 pieces of EU legislation, assesses their impact and determines which are debated. A Government focussed alternative? 6. A more common structure would be to shadow the work of one or more Government Departments. This would cover their finances, primary and secondary legislation, appointments, strategy and operations. 7. A successful array of shadowing committees exists in many Commonwealth models, with the UK being the most easily identifiable. However, as the Manx Government is considerably smaller in overall scale, it is feasible that a Manx system of select committees could shadow the work of a number of Government Departments. 8. Under the new structure, the Isle of Man Government is made up of the following bodies: 8.1. Economic Development 8.2. Social Care 8.3. Health 8.4. Community, Culture and Leisure 8.5. Environment 8.6. Infrastructure 8.7. Treasury 8.8. Home Affairs 8.9. Education 8.10. Chief Secretary’s Office 8.11. Personnel & Executive Agencies 9. A proposed structure could therefore be developed along a significant number of permutations. A simplistic example could be (accompanied by approximate remit): 6 9.1. Select Committee for Constitution and Executive Government Chief Secretary’s Office Constitutional Matters Personnel Office Executive Agencies (e.g. Data Protection, Industrial Relations, Appointments Commission) 9.2. Standing Committee on the Economy Treasury Department of Economic Affairs 9.3. Standing Committee on Health & Social Care Department of Health Department of Social Care 9.4. Standing Committee on Regulation & Environment Department of Home Affairs Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture 9.5. Standing Committee on Education & Communities Department of Education Department of Communities, Culture & Leisure Manx National Heritage 9.6. Standing Committee on Infrastructure & Utilities Department of Infrastructure Manx Electricity Authority Water & Sewerage Local Government 10. This system would envision the retention of the PAC. The example above is simply illustrative and is replicated pictorially in Appendix 2. Work of Members 11. There would need to be a different spread of work amongst Tynwald Members. Membership of current committees is thus: 11.1. Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Mrs Christian Mr Gill Mr Butt Mr Cregeen Mr Henderson Mr Watterson 7 11.2. Scrutiny Committee (SC) Mrs Cannell Mr Braidwood Mr Crowe Mr Malarkey Mr Lowey 11.3. Standing Committee on Economic Initiatives (SCEI) Mr Speaker Mr Corkish Mr Crookall Mr Cregeen Mr Watterson 11.4. Standing Committee on Constitutional Matters (SCCM) Mr Speaker Mr Braidwood Mr Crookall Mr Gill Mr Quayle 12. It can be seen from the above that twenty one places must be filled by the existing committee structure. If the revised system were altered to ensure that each Standing Committee consisted of three members, then there would still need to be 21 committee members (24 if the PAC remains at six members). 13. There are 33 voting Members of Tynwald. After excluding the Council of Ministers and Lord Bishop we are left with 22. Given that there is also the Ecclesiastical Committee it does not therefore seem unreasonable that nearly every back bencher could play a role in the scrutiny of the Executive on a permanent basis. At present there are six members serving on more than one scrutiny committee. Implications 14. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to the revised arrangements. On the positive side, the work should be more focussed on the work of a Government Department, and all Departments would be covered by the scrutiny committees in a systemic manner.