REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE REDUCTION OF STANDING COMMITTEES OF TYNWALD t i I. • REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE REDUCTION OF STANDING COMMITTEES OF TYNWALD To the Honourable Noel Q Cringle, President of Tynwald, and the Honourable Members of the Council and Keys in Tynwald assembled PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Background At the sitting of Tynwald Court on 21st May 2002 it was resolved that a Select Committee of five members be established to - "investigate and report by no later than July 2003 on the feasibility of reducing the number of Standing Committees of Tynwald along with any recommendations as to the responsibilities and membership and any proposals for change." 2. Mr Karran, Mr Lowey, Mr Quayle, Mr Quine and Mr Speaker were elected. At 4, the first meeting Mr Speaker was unanimously elected as Chairman. 3. The Committee has held four meetings. C/RSC/02/plb PART 2 STRATEGY 2.1 The Committees of Tynwald that would be examined were determined as: Committee on Constitutional Matters; Committee on the Declaration of Members' Interests, Ecclesiastical Committee; Committee on Economic Initiatives; Joint Committee on the Emoluments of Certain Public Servants; Committee on Expenditure and Public Accounts; Tynwald Ceremony Arrangements Committee; Tynwald Honours Committee; Tynwald Management Committee; Tynwald Members' Pension Scheme Management Committee; and Tynwald Standing Orders Committee of Tynwald. A brief summary of the membership and terms of reference of each standing committee is attached as Appendix 1. 2 C/RSC/02/plb 2.2 In order to facilitate its investigation your Committee also decided that - (a) Comparative information on committee structures in adjacent parliaments should be obtained. These would be the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Assembly, the States of Jersey and Guernsey and the Dail. Studying this comparative information indicated that other jurisdictions had several differing systems with regard to standing committees. The Channel Islands currently operate government through committees and therefore any direct comparison with them is not meaningful. In the United Kingdom the term "standing committee" is used for a variety of different sorts of committees, including committees considering the clauses stages of Bills, for regional committees, committees on Europe and on delegated legislation. It also has a wide variety of parliamentary committees generally for the scrutiny of government. The Scottish Parliament has a wide range of committees both for scrutiny of government and for "in house" issues, but generally does not appear to use the term "standing committee". The Welsh Assembly also has a wide range of committees both for the scrutiny of government and "in house" issues and it too generally does not use the term standing committee. The Dail uses the term "standing committee" for a small number of committees that deal with "in house" parliamentary matters, and it also operates a system of select committees which generally scrutinise government. The Northern Ireland Assembly also uses the term "standing committee" to refer to six committees which deal largely with "in house" matters. It also has a comprehensive system of departmental committees to scrutinise the work of government departments. 3 C/RSC/02/plb From this comparative information it is clear that no other parliament or parliamentary assembly within the British Isles has exactly the same committee structure as Tynwald and therefore direct comparison is not possible. A copy of the comparative information is attached to the Report as Appendix 2. (b) The Hansard debates establishing the various Committees should be obtained. Dated references to Hansard debates establishing the committees are attached to the Report as Appendix 3 and a copy of the relevant Hansards is available in the Members' Room. (c) All Members of Tynwald should be invited to express their views, in writing. To facilitate this, a letter was circulated to all Members informing them which Committees were under review, and showing the remit and composition of each. Two replies were received, from Mr W Henderson MHK and Hon S Rodan MHK. A copy of the letter and the replies received are attached to the Report as Appendix 4. 2.3 Once all the information had been obtained your Committee then looked at each of the committees in turn examining - (a) the need for the committee; (b) the remit of the committee; and (c) its composition and the possibility of amalgamation with any other committee. 4 C/RSC/02/pib PART 3 DELIBERATION 3.1 Committee on Constitutional Matters - 3.1.1 Your Committee has concluded that there is a need for this committee to continue in its current form. The work of this committee focuses on examining matters of constitutional importance particularly in areas where there has been no action by the Government or where the Government appears to have delayed in taking action. Your Committee feels that the opportunity to highlight such issues and bring additional pressure on the Government to consider taking action is a valuable one. In addition the committee, through its deliberations, can offer constructive proposals for constitutional improvement. 3.1.2 Your Committee considers that the remit of the Constitutional Matters Committee is satisfactory and does not need any amendment. 3.1.3 Your Committee believes that the work of this committee is sufficiently valuable to warrant its continued separate existence. There may be an argument that it could be merged with the Economic Initiatives Committee to form a "super' committee which could have overview of both constitutional and economic matters. Since stable government is an essential requirement for a prosperous economy, this may be so. However, your Committee feels that while there is a link between the work of the two committees, their tasks are sufficiently important and distinct to warrant continued separate existence. 3.1.4 Your Committee does, however, recommend that the committee be required to lay an annual report before the October sitting of Tynwald Court. 5 C/RSC/02/plb 3.2 Declaration of Members' Interests Committee - 3.2.1 Your Committee has concluded that there is a need for a committee to oversee the issue of Members' interests. Your Committee is quite happy with the present remit and composition of the Committee. However it does recommend that the Tynwald Standing Orders Committee should consider the matter of making registration of Members' interests compulsory, rather than voluntary as it is at present. 3.2.2 However your Committee also believes that the issue of Members' interests is part of a wider one, namely that concerning the general standards of conduct and behaviour of Members. If it were to be decided that a new Standards Committee of Tynwald be established (and your Committee favours this with a Standards Committee making an annual report to Tynwald in October, although such a recommendation is beyond its remit) then your Committee would recommend that the functions of the Members' Interests Committee should be subsumed into the new Standards Committee. This would ensure that the Standards Committee had control over the procedure for registering Members' interests, but also it would ensure that the number of committees did not rise. 3.3 Ecclesiastical Committee - 3.3.1 The Ecclesiastical Committee is constituted by an Act of Tynwald and any change to its remit would require primary legislation, but its manner of composition is a matter for Tynwald. 3.3.2 A decision about the future of this committee, or indeed any changes to its terms of reference, could raise issues of constitutional importance to do with the establishment of the Church of England, the position of the Bishop in Tynwald and the legal rights of parishioners. In view of this, your Committee recommends that the future and remit of the Ecclesiastical Committee should be the subject of discussion between that committee, the Government and the Bishop and that the Government should report the outcome to Tynwald. 6 C/RSC/02/plb 3.3.3 In the meantime your Committee believes that the number of Members serving on this committee could be reduced. Currently there are seven Members on the committee which your Committee believes is excessive. This should be reduced to three Members. 3.4 Economic Initiatives Committee - 3.4.1 Your Committee feels that the need for this committee continues to exist. It is vital for the Isle of Man that there is a stable economy and this committee may help to ensure that. 3.4.2 It is felt that the remit and composition of the committee are appropriate and that there are no good reasons for it being merged with another committee. With regard to a possible merger with the Constitutional Matters Committee, see paragraph 3.1.3 above. 3.5 Joint Committee on the Emoluments of Certain Public Servants - 3.5.1 Your Committee believes that there is a need for a body to exist to determine the pay of Members of Tynwald and certain senior public servants. The determination of salary levels for those covered by the remit of this committee is crucial if the best candidates are to be attracted to these posts. However your Committee did consider whether the better solution would be to establish a Top Salary Review Body similar to that operating within the UK. We recommend that the matter be referred to the Joint Committee and that it should report to Tynwald. 3.6 Committee on Expenditure and Public Accounts - • 3.6.1 Your Committee believes that for the effective control of Executive Government it is necessary to have such a committee which exercises scrutiny over Government finances. 7 C/RSC/02/plb 3.6.2 With regard to the remit of this committee, your Committee is aware that the Committee on Expenditure and Public Accounts is currently examining their own remit and in view of that your Committee believes that it would be premature for it to propose any change at this time.