Northern Ireland (Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan) Bill
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
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Lord Dunlop
That the Bill be read a second time.
Relevant document: 24th Report from the Delegated Powers Committee
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scotland Office (Lord Dunlop) (Con)
My Lords, the Northern Ireland (Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan) Bill delivers key aspects of the December 2014 Stormont House agreement and the November 2015 fresh start agreement. I see our job here this evening as helping to ensure that these agreements are implemented and that another step is taken towards a more peaceful, prosperous and stable Northern Ireland where the devolved institutions continue to work for everyone and paramilitary activity is eradicated once and for all.
By way of context, the Stormont House agreement followed some 10 weeks of talks between the Government, the five largest parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Irish Government on matters for which they have responsibility under the long-established three-stranded approach to Northern Ireland affairs. It dealt with many of the most difficult challenges facing Northern Ireland, including welfare reform, measures to deal with the legacy of the Troubles, improvements to the workings of devolution and new arrangements to examine long-standing issues such as flags and parading.
However, by last summer implementation of the Stormont House agreement—in particular, welfare reform—had stalled. This lack of agreement severely undermined the Executive’s finances, putting increasing pressure on funding for public services. This political and financial impasse was then compounded by two paramilitary murders in Belfast, precipitating a serious breakdown in Executive relations. Confronted by the very real risk of the devolved institutions collapsing and a return to direct rule, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland convened a further round of cross-party talks.
Following 10 weeks of discussion, on 17 November a way forward was announced on the two key issues the talks were convened to address: first, implementation of the Stormont House agreement, itself a government manifesto commitment, and, secondly, dealing with the continued and malign impact of paramilitary activity on Northern Ireland society.
The fresh start agreement is a very significant step forward on both counts. The agreement takes the Northern Ireland political parties further than ever before in their determination to see a complete end to paramilitary activity, placing obligations on Assembly Members to work together to rid society of paramilitary activity and to tackle organised crime. It helps to ensure the fiscal sustainability of the Executive, underpinned by up to half a billion pounds of extra spending power on top of the £2 billion in the Stormont House agreement. Crucially, it was instrumental in bringing to an end a crisis that had threatened the survival of the devolved institutions which have remained stable since 2007, the longest period of unbroken devolved government since the old Stormont Parliament was dissolved back in 1972.
Good progress has already been made in implementing the fresh start agreement. In November, this House considered and passed the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Bill and the accompanying Order in Council was passed in early December. A joint agency task force has been set up to tackle cross-jurisdictional organised crime, and a panel of respected figures, including the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, has been appointed to consider the issue of continued paramilitary activity and to make recommendations on a strategy for disbanding paramilitary groups by the end of May. Work is also under way to appoint a new commission on flags and parades. The Assembly has passed legislation to make significant reforms to its institutions, reducing the number of Executive departments and Members of the Legislative Assembly. The implementation of the fresh start agreement is therefore proceeding apace and the Government, Executive and Irish Government have shown a real commitment to make the agreement work and deliver on their commitments.
This Bill is the UK Government’s next step towards full implementation of the fresh start agreement, and has the support of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which gave cross-party consent on 15 March in respect of the transferred matters contained in the Bill. A number of commitments need to be delivered through legislation, and the Bill achieves that. It makes provision for a new Independent Reporting Commission, an international body to be established through a treaty with the Irish Government, the objective of which will be to promote progress towards ending paramilitary activity. It makes provision to promote fiscal transparency and support the Executive to deliver a stable and sustainable budget; for additional commitments in the pledge of office taken by Executive Ministers relating to tackling organised crime and paramilitarism, and the introduction of a parallel undertaking for Members of the Assembly; and to extend the time available for agreeing a programme for government and appointing Executive Ministers after an election.
Those last two measures are of course linked to the timing of the forthcoming Assembly election. The Government are therefore seeking Parliament’s agreement for the Bill to proceed through its parliamentary scrutiny faster than usual to ensure that the enhanced pledge of office and new undertaking, as well as the extension of the time available for ministerial appointments, are in place in time for the Assembly’s return. I am grateful to the parties opposite for their support on this.
With noble Lords’ permission, before I turn in more detail to the measures in the Bill, I shall address an issue that formed an important part of the fresh start talks but which does not feature in this legislation: the establishment of new bodies to deal with the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland. I reassure noble Lords that this issue is of paramount importance to the Government, and it is clear that it is important to noble Lords from across the Chamber as well. In discussions that I have had in the run-up to today’s debate, many noble Lords have raised this issue. I have therefore written offering an open briefing session, to take place tomorrow afternoon. I hope to see many noble Lords there, and indeed the response has already been very positive.
The Government continue to believe that the provisions outlined in the Stormont House agreement, which themselves build upon the significant work that the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames, took forward in his role as co-chair of the Consultative Group on the Past, represent the best chance for dealing with the past in a way that will deliver significantly better outcomes for victims and survivors. Let us never forget that it was the victims and survivors who suffered more than anyone else as a result of the Troubles. The new institutions will therefore be balanced, proportionate, transparent, fair and equitable. They will allow Northern Ireland to move forward, and have the needs of victims and survivors at their heart. Intensive work therefore continues with victims’ representatives and others on finding a way to build the broad consensus needed to legislate. I hope very much that legislation to establish the legacy institutions in a separate Bill will be brought forward once the necessary consensus has been achieved.
I turn to the measures in the Bill before the House today. Clauses 1 to 5 relate to the Independent Reporting Commission. The objective of this new commission will be to promote progress towards ending paramilitary activity connected with Northern Ireland. It will therefore fulfil an important role in furtherance of this Government’s commitment to challenging all paramilitary activity and associated criminality. The commission will be an international body, established through an agreement with the Irish Government. Work on the agreement is at an advanced stage and, once agreed with the new Irish Government, it will be laid before Parliament for scrutiny under the arrangements in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. It will be independent of the sponsoring Governments and will have a significant degree of discretion in fulfilling its functions, which are to report on progress towards ending paramilitary activity, including on implementation of measures taken by the Government, the Executive and the Irish Government to tackle paramilitarism, and to consult a wide range of stakeholders in fulfilling this role. The Bill also outlines both the legal privileges which the commission will enjoy and the duties under which it will operate. Further detail on the establishment and operation of the commission will be set out in secondary legislation in due course.
At this juncture I should also mention that last week I responded to the very helpful comments of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee on the Bill. I have placed a copy of my response in the House Library and have published it on the Northern Ireland Office website.
The Bill also amends the pledge of office for Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive. The enhanced pledge reflects the commitments in the fresh start agreement to give unequivocal support for the rule of law and to work collectively to achieve a society free of paramilitarism. The Bill will also introduce for the first time a similar undertaking for all Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
In the other place, there was much discussion of the question of possible sanctions for breaching the new undertaking. This is an important point and I have absolutely no doubt that we will return to it during discussions in this House. The Government are firmly of the opinion that it would not be appropriate for us at Westminster to pre-empt the Assembly’s own consideration of this issue and prescribe specific sanctions or the means by which they should be taken forward. Rightly, this is a question for the Northern Ireland Assembly and should be decided by that legislative body with the appropriate cross-party and cross-community consensus. There are established mechanisms by which the Assembly holds MLAs to account, including for their adherence to the Assembly code of conduct, and the Assembly has the necessary powers to impose sanctions, should it decide that these are required.
The Bill also extends the time available for the allocation of ministerial positions in the Executive from seven to 14 days after the Assembly first meets following an election. This change was first proposed in the 2014 Stormont House agreement and was confirmed in the recent fresh start agreement. At present, Northern Ireland Executive ministerial positions must be allocated within seven calendar days after the first meeting of the Assembly, as required by the Northern Ireland Act 1998. This extension will therefore allow the parties more time to agree a shared programme for government on a cross-party basis prior to the allocation of ministerial positions following the upcoming elections and all future elections.
Finally, the fresh start agreement contains a clear commitment for the UK Government to legislate to increase fiscal transparency, helping the Executive deliver affordable and sustainable budgets. The Bill therefore requires that, when delivering a draft Budget, the Executive Finance Minister must demonstrate that the amount of government funding required by the draft Budget does not exceed what is available.
As I have outlined, the measures included in this Bill are the product of extensive cross-party talks conducted over the 10 weeks leading up to the fresh start agreement. They have the support of the Executive and the Assembly, which were involved in the drafting of the provisions, and a legislative consent Motion in respect of the transferred matters in the Bill received cross-party support in the Assembly, as I said, on 15 March.
The Bill is a crucial stage in the full implementation of the Stormont House and fresh start agreements, which, taken together, have the potential to resolve some of the most difficult challenges facing Northern Ireland and help us secure a more peaceful, stable and prosperous future for all the people who live in Northern Ireland. I beg to move.
Lord Dunlop
My Lords, this has been a constructive debate with powerful and moving speeches and I thank noble Lords from all parts of the House for the many and varied contributions they have made. It is fair to say that the speakers list has been short but that the quality of the speakers and the wealth of knowledge and experience that has been brought to bear has more than made up for this. Indeed, as a relative newcomer in this House, I am humbled to be participating in such company. I echo the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, about the contribution and presence here of the noble Lord, Lord Murphy.
I shall endeavour in my closing remarks to address as many of the points raised as I can. However, perhaps I may first say a few words about the Bill as a whole. As I said earlier, the Bill implements some key elements of both the fresh start and Stormont House agreements. In so doing it takes an important step towards a more peaceful, prosperous and stable Northern Ireland. It is peaceful in that the Bill makes provision for the establishment of an independent body that will both promote and report on progress towards ending paramilitary activity connected with Northern Ireland. It is prosperous in that the Bill will increase fiscal transparency, ensuring that executive budgets are affordable and sustainable. It is stable in that it will allow parties more time to agree a programme for government on a cross-party basis, encouraging a more bipartisan approach, while the additions to the ministerial pledge of office and new undertakings for Assembly Members signal more clearly than ever before the determination of the Northern Ireland political parties to see an end to paramilitary activity once and for all.
Perhaps I may now respond to some of the detailed points raised. The noble Lord, Lord Murphy, referred to the powers of appointment of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, and expressed the hope that in discharging those powers they would consult more widely. I was encouraged that Minister Pengelly, in the legislative consent Motion debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, undertook that at the very least there would be consultation with the Minister for Justice. The noble Lord also raised the issue of the role of a new generation, a point echoed by the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames. It is important that the shared future initiatives are very much designed in many respects to engage young people.
I turn now to the contribution of the noble Baroness, Lady Harris. She talked about widening the membership of the IRC. Of course, no decisions on the membership of the commission have yet been made, but it is important to make the general point that the IRC needs collectively to have credibility and to carry confidence across the community. Clearly it is incumbent on the Government, the Irish Government and the First and Deputy First Ministers to consult one another when making their respective nominations to ensure that the criterion laid down in the fresh start agreement is met. The noble Baroness also raised the issue of ring-fencing legacy funding. The Stormont House agreement committed £150 million over five years to fund new legacy institutions. Speaking more widely, I agree with her that it is important that these new institutions are equitable in how they operate. The Government are clear that the new bodies must be transparent, fair and equitable. This is written into the Stormont House agreement and will be in the Bill itself; these are absolutely fundamental values.
The noble Lord, Lord Empey, broadly welcomed the IRC and expressed his hope that it would shine a light into paramilitary activity. Whatever remedial action the IRC might recommend, and it is free to do so, I think that public scrutiny will be a very powerful influence on eradicating paramilitarism in Northern Ireland. The noble Lord also raised the issue of the Executive’s finances, a point raised by my noble friend Lord Lexden, who talked about financial prudence. The Executive have committed to establishing an independent fiscal council for Northern Ireland to increase the transparency of the public finances and it will publish an annual assessment of the Executive’s revenue streams and spending proposals, showing how the Executive’s budget will balance. It is also important that the council will publish a report on the sustainability of the Executive’s finances.
I turn to the contribution of the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames. First, I thank him for his kind remarks. He gave a typically moving and authoritative speech about how to reconcile a divided society. I agree with him that reconciliation cannot be achieved solely through legislation. I very much look forward to introducing a Bill to establish the new institutions to deal with the past. He is absolutely right that more is needed. For this reason, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State is engaging intensively with stakeholders, political parties and civil society organisations to move forward in the best interests of victims.
The noble Lord, Lord Browne, sought clarity on the terms of the treaty. That point was also raised by my noble friend Lord Lexden. Discussions with the Government of Ireland on the contents of the international agreement are at an advanced stage. However, it will not be possible to gain final agreement until after the new Government is formed in Ireland. The treaty will set out the IRC’s functions, as outlined in A Fresh Start, and it will also add further detail on the operations of the commission. I am afraid that, at this point, I cannot be specific or give a date when the IRC will be up and running, but we are aiming for it to be this year. Obviously, the Executive will be publishing their strategy and plans for dealing with paramilitarism by the end of June.
The noble Lord, Lord Lexden, also raised the issue about the legislative consent Motion for this Bill. An LCM was required in the Northern Ireland Assembly for two provisions in the Bill because they alter the competence of a devolved Minister: Clause 1(4), which provides a new power for the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to nominate two members of the IRC; and Clause 9, which seeks to promote fiscal transparency and places a duty on the Northern Ireland Finance Minister to provide statements to the Assembly.
The noble Lord, Lord Bew, raised the issue of the need for an IPSA-style body. Obviously, the Government want to promote the highest standards in public life in all parts of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, but as I said in my opening speech, the Government would not wish to pre-empt detailed Assembly consideration of the most appropriate measures or the most appropriate vehicle to introduce them. Assembly Standing Orders, for instance, exist primarily to regulate the proceedings of the Assembly, and it is not clear that they would be an appropriate vehicle to make provision for investigation by an independent or external person.
The office of the existing Commissioner for Standards was established by separate Assembly legislation, and any new accountability measures will need to have the greatest possible legitimacy among those who will be affected by them. It is therefore right that the Assembly has the scope to debate these matters and seek political consensus among the Northern Ireland parties on their introduction.
The noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, raised the question of when paramilitarism becomes organised crime. The term “paramilitary” coves a multitude of actions, associations and behaviours. The paramilitary assessment carried out by the PSNI and MI5, and reviewed by an independent panel last year, represents the most recent and up-to-date characterisation of the structure, role and purpose of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Much of this was clearly organised crime. Violent dissident republicans continue to resort to brutal assaults on members of their own communities in an attempt to exert fear and control. This Government are absolutely unequivocal. There is no justification for being a member of a paramilitary organisation in the year 2016, and there was no justification in the past. For that reason, we are introducing the IRC.
I turn finally to the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy—and if I have not covered all the points, I will obviously return to them. The noble Lord raised the issue of security funding. Obviously, the Stormont House agreement included provision of £160 million, which was new money, for security funding. I can also confirm that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will engage with all relevant stakeholders on inquest reform.
The noble Lord raised the issue of the co-operation of the security agencies with the new commission and how the Government will ensure that they do so. The Government are committed to the measures aimed at tackling paramilitarism outlined in the fresh start agreement and to the success of the Independent Reporting Commission. We urge all bodies, including the security agencies, to co-operate fully and meaningfully with the commission from an early stage and to allow the most accurate reporting possible.
Under Clause 2(5), we will issue guidance for the commission in relation to the access to, handling and use of sensitive information. That is intended to ensure that the relevant agencies and public authorities are able confidently to engage and assist the commission in fulfilling its functions. As for when the guidance will be issued, we will do so in advance of the commission starting work. The guidance will be published in line with the Bill and a copy placed in the Library of the House.
In closing, I remind the House that this is an important Bill—everybody who has spoken recognised that. It has the support of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, where—as we already discussed—a legislative consent Motion was recently passed. It will deliver on commitments made in the fresh start and Stormont House agreements, and it plays a significant part in all our efforts to support a stable and workable devolution settlement in Northern Ireland. I very much look forward to discussing the individual provisions of the Bill in more detail in Committee and, tomorrow, to starting the engagement process not on the Bill but on legacy issues. I commend the Bill to the House.