Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Bill

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 29th November 2022 Commons Chamber

Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

[The First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 10, in clause 2, page 1, line 15, leave out “19 January 2023” and insert

“a date set out in regulations by the Secretary of State”.

This amendment gives the Secretary of State discretion to set a later deadline for the filling of Ministerial Offices.

Clause 2 stand part.

Amendment 13, in clause 3, page 2, line 25, at end insert—

“(5A) Guidance under subsection (4) must require senior officers of a Northern Ireland department who exercise a function in reliance on subsection (1)—

(a) to notify in writing members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Members of Parliament representing constituencies in Northern Ireland on each occasion that they exercise such a function, and to set out their justification and rationale for exercising the function, and

(b) to make themselves available to answer expeditiously any questions regarding their exercise of the function put by members of the Assembly or Members of Parliament representing constituencies in Northern Ireland.”

Amendment 7, page 2, line 28, after “Assembly” insert

“and have due regard to the views of the First Ministers designate (the leaders of the two largest groupings elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly).”

This amendment would require the Secretary of State to have due regard to the First Ministers designate, defined as the leaders of the two largest groupings elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, who are entitled to nominate the First Minister and the deputy First Minister.

Amendment 8, page 2, line 28, at end insert —

“(7) Any representations made by Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly under subsection (6) must be published by the Secretary of State, who must also place a written report of those representations in the library of the Northern Ireland Assembly.”

Clauses 3 to 9 stand part.

Amendment 1, in clause 10, page 5, line 22, leave out “may” and insert “must”.

The intention of this amendment is to require the Secretary of State to make a determination reducing the salary of Northern Ireland Assembly Members during a period in which the Northern Ireland Assembly is not functioning.

Amendment 2, page 5, line 24, leave out

“in respect of some or all of that period”

and insert

“with effect from 1 January 2023 (unless the Northern Ireland Assembly is functioning by then)”.

Amendment 3, page 5, line 28, at end insert—

“(2A) The first determination must reduce by 50 per cent the salaries of Northern Ireland Assembly Members payable during a period in which the Northern Ireland Assembly is not functioning.”

Amendment 4, page 5, line 40, leave out

“would have had were it not for”

and insert “have had under”.

The intention of this amendment is to link the pension entitlement of Northern Ireland Assembly Members to the salary they actually receive.

Clauses 10 to 15 stand part.

New clause 1—Report to Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee—

“(1) The Secretary of State must provide a written report to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons about the exercise of departmental functions under section 3 of this Act, no later than six weeks after the date on which this Act is passed, and thereafter at intervals of no more than six weeks until Ministerial appointments are made to the Executive.

(2) In this section ‘the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons’ means the Select Committee of the House of Commons known as the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee or any successor of that committee.”

New clause 3—Consultation with First Ministers designate—

“The Secretary of State must have due regard to the views of the First Ministers Designate (the leaders of the two largest groupings entitled to nominate First Minister and deputy First Minister) in issuing guidance under section 3 of this Act.”

New clause 6—Reports on progress towards forming an Executive—

“(1) The Secretary of State must, on or before 8 December 2022, publish a report explaining what progress has been made towards the formation of an Executive in Northern Ireland (unless an Executive has already been formed).

(2) The Secretary of State must lay a copy of each report published under subsection (1) before each House of Parliament by the end of the day on which it is published.

(3) The Secretary of State must make a further report under subsection (1) on or before 19 January 2023.

(4) For the purposes of this section an Executive is formed once the offices of the First Minister, deputy First Minister and the Northern Ireland Ministers are all filled.”

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Robinson]

Dame Rosie, you can see that there is a willingness and desire to move things along. I am very grateful to the Minister and to the Secretary of State for their engagement. That is a helpful clarification on the guidance.

As I mentioned tangentially during an intervention I made on Second Reading, a number of amendments that were tabled fell outside the scope of the Bill, but I hope that the Northern Ireland Office will engage with us and colleagues across the House pragmatically over the next few weeks, because these issues are not going to go away and need to be resolved.

[The First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I call the Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee.