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Review of D'hondt, Community Designation and Provisions For Assembly and Executive Review Committee Review of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition Together with the Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee Relating to the Report and the Minutes of Evidence Ordered by The Assembly and Executive Review Committee to be printed 18 June 2013 Report: NIA 123/11-15 (Assembly and Executive Review Committee) REPORT EMBARGOED UNTIL COMMENCEMENT OF DEBATE IN PLENARY Mandate 2011/15 Fourth Report Powers and Membership Powers and Membership Powers The Assembly and Executive Review Committee is a Standing Committee established in accordance with Section 29A and 29B of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Standing Order 59 which states: “(1) There shall be a standing committee of the Assembly to be known as the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. (2) The committee may - (a) exercise the power in section 44(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998; (b) report from time to time to the Assembly and the Executive Committee. (3) The committee shall consider - (a) such matters relating to the operation of the provisions of Parts 3 and 4 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as enable it to make the report referred to in section 29A(3) of that Act; and (b) such other matters relating to the functioning of the Assembly or the Executive Committee as may be referred to it by the Assembly.” Membership The Committee has eleven members including a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson with a quorum of five. The membership of the Committee is as follows: Stephen Moutray (Chairperson) Pat Sheehan (Deputy Chairperson) Roy Beggs Gregory Campbell Stewart Dickson Paul Givan Simon Hamilton Raymond McCartney Conall McDevitt Seán Rogers 1 2 3 Caitríona Ruane 4 5 1 With effect from 26 September 2011 Mrs Sandra Overend replaced Mr Mike Nesbitt 2. With effect from 23 April 2011 Mr John McCallister replaced Mrs Sandra Overend 3. With effect from 04 March 2013 Mr Seán Rogers was appointed as a Member to fill the vacancy created when Mr John McCallister left the Committee. 4. With effect from 12 September 2011 Mr Pat Doherty replaced Mr Paul Maskey 5. With effect from 10 September 2012 Ms Caitríona Ruane was appointed as a Member to fill the vacancy created when Pat Doherty resigned from the Assembly. i Review of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition ii Table of Contents Table of Contents Review of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition Executive Summary 1 Introduction 3 The Committee’s Approach to the Review 8 Committee Consideration 10 Analysis and Conclusions 20 Appendices Appendix 1 Minutes of Proceedings 27 Appendix 2 Minutes of Evidence 53 Appendix 3 Stakeholder List, Stakeholder ‘Call for Evidence’ Paper 111 Appendix 4 Table of Key Points of Stakeholder Submissions 131 Stakeholder Submissions: Political Parties and Independent Members of the Assembly Alliance Party 147 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 151 The Green Party in Northern Ireland (GPNI) 163 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 167 Sinn Féin (SF) 169 Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) 172 UK Independence Party (UKIP) 177 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 181 Mr John McCallister and Mr Basil McCrea (then Independent Members) 185 Other Key Stakeholders 190 Appendix 5 Correspondence and Other Papers Relating to the Review 301 Appendix 6 Assembly Research and Information Service Papers 387 iii Review of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition iv Executive Summary Executive Summary 1. The Assembly and Executive Review Committee is a Standing Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly that was established to: ■ make a report to the Secretary of State, the Assembly and the Executive Committee, by no later than 1 May 2015, on the operation of Parts III and IV of the Northern Ireland Act 1998; and ■ consider such other matters relating to the functioning of the Assembly or the Executive as may be referred to it by the Assembly. 2. The Committee agreed the Terms of Reference for its Review of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition, a Stakeholder ‘Call for Evidence’ Paper and a stakeholder list that included all Political Parties registered in NI. 3. The Committee received and considered 22 Stakeholder responses to the Review. The Committee received oral evidence from Professor Derek Birrell, University of Ulster, Professor Yvonne Galligan, Queen’s University Belfast, Professor Christopher McCrudden, University of Oxford, Professor Brendan O’Leary, University of Pennsylvania, Professor Rick Wilford, Queen’s University Belfast, and Dr Robin Wilson and Ms Eileen Cairnduff from Platform for Change. The Committee also visited the Scottish Parliament and met representatives of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and the Parliamentary Bureau, in order to inform the Review. 4. The Committee commissioned and considered two Assembly Research Papers in order to inform Members’ discussions and views on the issues arising from this Review. 5. The Review took evidence on D’Hondt in relation to: ■ Whether there should be changes in the legislative provision and use of d’Hondt in the Northern Ireland Assembly in the allocation of Ministerial offices and/or Committee Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons. The Review took evidence on Community Designation in relation to: ■ Whether there should be changes in the legislative provision and use of community designation in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Review took evidence on Provisions for Opposition in relation to: ■ Whether the accountability and effectiveness of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive could be improved through the introduction of provisions to formally recognise Opposition, while retaining the principles of power-sharing and inclusivity. In particular, the Committee took evidence on whether: ■ Opposition Parties/Non-Executive Parties should be allocated appropriate financial resources to assist in their Assembly duties; ■ Arrangements for allocating Chairs and Deputy Chairs of Assembly Committees should be changed to take account of a formal Opposition; and; ■ Opposition Parties/Non-Executive Parties should be guaranteed additional time to raise and debate non-Executive business in the Assembly — including priority speaking rights in response to Ministerial Statements and in Question Time. The Committee concluded that: 6. There was no consensus on ceasing to use/replacing the current D’Hondt system as the mechanism for allocating Ministerial positions or Committee Chairperson/Deputy Chairperson. 1 Review of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition 7. The Committee concluded that there is no consensus at present to move to a formal Government and Opposition model, such as exists in Westminster. It also concluded that there is no consensus to move from the current opt-out model, whereby Parties can exercise their right to opt-out of taking up their Ministerial post or withdraw from the Executive, based on existing Assembly provisions. 8. The Committee concluded that financial support for political parties should continue to be allocated on a broadly proportional basis and did not consider that additional resources should be allocated to non-Executive/opposition Parties. 9. The Committee concluded that Parties that exercise their right not to take their Executive entitlement would have “informal” recognition of non-Executive/opposition status on a proportional basis by: ■ Additional speaking rights; ■ recognition of status by order of speaking; and ■ allocation of time for additional non-Executive business – the use of the allocation to be determined by non-Executive Party/opposition. The representatives of Sinn Féin stated that they were unable to support this conclusion. 10. The Committee concluded that Parties that have failed to meet the Executive threshold for d’Hondt but have reached a suitable threshold should attract appropriate recognition in terms of speaking rights, status by order of speaking and allocation of time for non- Executive business in proportion to their Party strength. 11. The Committee recognised that there may be some value in Technical Groups and recommended that this facility for smaller Parties of the Assembly be reviewed. 12. The Committee concluded that the Parties of the incoming Executive should aim to agree a Heads of Agreement of a Programme for Government in advance of the formation of the Executive, with a full draft Programme for Government published in accordance with current procedures. 13. The Committee concluded that there was no consensus for replacement of community designation by, for example, a weighted-majority vote in the Assembly of 65%. 14. Following the evidence that was presented to the Committee regarding Petitions of Concern, the Committee concluded that further detailed work in relation to Petitions of Concern needs to be carried out. 2 Introduction Introduction Background to the Review 15. In June 2011, the Committee Chairperson wrote to the Leaders of the Parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly, requesting information on which issues their Party would like to see prioritised by the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. At that time, the Committee was undertaking a ‘Review of the Number of Members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly and of the Reduction in the Number of Departments’. Following the completion of this Review in November 2012, the Committee agreed that its next priorities for Review were the issues of D’Hondt, Community Designation and Provisions for Opposition. 16. The terms of reference for this Review and
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