Engaging with the NI Assembly Health Committee Andrew Dougal - Chair, Public Health Agency Paula Bradley MLA - outgoing Chair NI Assembly Health Committee Eilis Haughey - Clerk, NI Assembly Health Committee

Engaging with the Committee for Health Éilis Haughey Clerk to Committee for Health

Context Belfast / Good Friday Agreement 1998 Referenda North and South First election June 1998 Northern Ireland Act 1998 (as amended) Suspension: Oct 2002 – May 2007 St Andrews Agreement 2006 Devolution: 2007- present Stormont House Agreement Dec 2014 A Fresh Start Agreement Nov 2015 Devolved Assembly; ‘power-sharing’ government North-South Institutions, East-West Institutions

The Assembly 90 MLAs: 5 MLAs for each of the 18 constituencies MLAs are elected by Single Transferable Vote Elections 2 March 2017: DUP: 28 seats Sinn Fein: 27 SDLP: 12 UU: 10 Alliance Party: 8 Green: 2 Others: 3

Committees: Appointment & Composition 9 Statutory Committees (one for each of the Departments) 6 Standing Committees – AERC; Audit; Business; Procedures; Standards and Privileges; Public Accounts 11 Members on each Committee Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson appointed using d’Hondt system of proportional representation Chairperson from a different party than Minister

Powers and Duties NI Act 1998, s.29: “advise and assist …in the formulation of policy” Good Friday /Belfast Agreement 1998*: “scrutiny, policy development and consultation role” inc.: consider and advise on departmental budgets an annual plans in the context of the overall budget allocation; take the Committee stage of relevant primary legislation and consider relevant secondary legislation; call for persons and papers; initiate inquiries and make reports; and consider and advise on matters brought to the Committee by the Minister. * Strand 1, para 9. (supplemented by Standing Orders 46-64C – operational detail)

Committee Business: opportunities to engage Strategic Planning meetings – 2/yr approx - priority themes / inquiries agreed The Forward-Work Programme is managed by Committee staff and usually covers a 3 month period; available on website Issues brought forward by the Minister/Department - Legislation (Primary and Subordinate/Secondary) - Budgets - Policy Papers - Ministerial Statements - Events Work initiated by Committee - Inquiries - Stakeholder Events - Study Visits

Engaging during an Inquiry: process Agreement on theme / terms of reference Call for evidence (NIA website, 3 newspapers & social media) Targeted letters Research commissioned Receipt of written submissions Oral evidence sessions with selected stakeholders Engagement with Department / agencies Deliberations and agreement on recommendations Report published, debate in Assembly Department provides committee with detailed explanation of Bill Call for evidence issued publicly – relevant stakeholders can submit written submission: BE AWARE – CHECK ASSEMBLY WEBSITE, NEWSPAPERS, FOLLOW ASSEMBLY ON TWITTER Committee staff summarise submissions and recommend people or organisations to call up and give evidence. Committee Members will also make suggestions of who to call…. SHOULD REPRESENT A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS Clause-by-clause – careful consideration whereby committee expresses concerns it may have regarding any individual clauses and recommends any amendments as required. All decisions recorded in minutes and included in report. Engagement with Dept on recommended amendments: Dept may agree with recommendations by Committee and agree to bring amendments in Minister’s name, otherwise Committee Chair may table amendments as set out in report. Report published prior to consideration in Assembly – available to Members and public and shows Committee’s rationale. ALL EVIDENCE SESSIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Engaging: advice Tailor evidence to terms of reference (or clauses of Bill) Be as specific as possible: nature of problem & possible solutions Provide evidence to support assertions Avoid technical language / jargon (or, where unavoidable, explain) Oral evidence: keep to time don’t read from script anticipate questions: have all information / key people in attendance keep watching brief: what are others saying? maintain professional tone NB: meetings are streamed live, video-recorded and transcribed! Department provides committee with detailed explanation of Bill Call for evidence issued publicly – relevant stakeholders can submit written submission: BE AWARE – CHECK ASSEMBLY WEBSITE, NEWSPAPERS, FOLLOW ASSEMBLY ON TWITTER Committee staff summarise submissions and recommend people or organisations to call up and give evidence. Committee Members will also make suggestions of who to call…. SHOULD REPRESENT A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS Clause-by-clause – careful consideration whereby committee expresses concerns it may have regarding any individual clauses and recommends any amendments as required. All decisions recorded in minutes and included in report. Engagement with Dept on recommended amendments: Dept may agree with recommendations by Committee and agree to bring amendments in Minister’s name, otherwise Committee Chair may table amendments as set out in report. Report published prior to consideration in Assembly – available to Members and public and shows Committee’s rationale. ALL EVIDENCE SESSIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Engaging at Committee Stage of a Bill Initial Departmental briefing with detailed explanation of the Bill Introduction and Second Stage debate - Plenary Committee Stage: - Standing Order 33: 30 working days (usually extended) - Call for evidence (NIA website, 3 newspapers & social media) - Receipt of written submissions - Oral evidence sessions with selected stakeholders - Clause by Clause scrutiny of the Bill - Amendments recommended by Committee (may be brought by Dept.) - Report published to inform subsequent Assembly stages Department provides committee with detailed explanation of Bill Call for evidence issued publicly – relevant stakeholders can submit written submission: BE AWARE – CHECK ASSEMBLY WEBSITE, NEWSPAPERS, FOLLOW ASSEMBLY ON TWITTER Committee staff summarise submissions and recommend people or organisations to call up and give evidence. Committee Members will also make suggestions of who to call…. SHOULD REPRESENT A WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS Clause-by-clause – careful consideration whereby committee expresses concerns it may have regarding any individual clauses and recommends any amendments as required. All decisions recorded in minutes and included in report. Engagement with Dept on recommended amendments: Dept may agree with recommendations by Committee and agree to bring amendments in Minister’s name, otherwise Committee Chair may table amendments as set out in report. Report published prior to consideration in Assembly – available to Members and public and shows Committee’s rationale. ALL EVIDENCE SESSIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

On-going Engagement / Influence Forward-work programme Twitter handle: @niahealth Website Watch live stream or video clips Committee Reports Stakeholder approaches: write, send reports, invite Committee to events/ conferences etc. one-to-one meetings with members Many opportunities to influence agenda and recommendations of Committee.

Committee Influence Human Transplantation Bill Mental Capacity Bill Committee opposed: Bill did not progress to amending stages Mental Capacity Bill Large volume of amendments but few deriving from Committee scrutiny Hospital Appointment Cancellation Committee recommendation: now measured differently

Role of Clerk Ensure Committee run within bounds of its powers and in compliance with Standing Orders Advise Chair and Members Manage business and forward-work programme Manage team Draft briefings, reports, speeches etc. Contribute to broader corporate projects etc.

Questions?

Assembly Engagement If you would like to know more about the role of the Assembly, our Engagement team offers seminars on ‘How the Assembly Works’. For more information, please email: engagement@niassembly.gov.uk or call 9052 0321.