A COMMITTEE is simply a group of roughly 11 MLA's who are designated a particular focus in the Assembly on which they have to fulfil a number of key roles. There are a number of different types of committees in the NI Assembly which you should be aware of. Each major democracy around the world has committees built into them. They frequently do much of their important work behind the scenes. 

Statutory- They are set up to advise, assist and scrutinize. Standing- Their role is to do with the overall effective running of the Assembly Ad Hoc- These are temporary committees, set up to deal with specific time constrained issues Joint- These have been set up in certain circumstances to deal with issues that may concern more than one committee

LEGISLATIVE ROLE They have a very important LEGISLATIVE (Law making) role. They can fulfil this in a number of ways. They are primarily there to help produce or analyse LEGISLATION (Laws) going through the Assembly.  They can ask for outside advice from relevant 'stakeholders' or 'witnesses' when making these.  They can also add AMENDMENTS (Changes) if they think they are needed. The Committees also have the potential to initiate or create a law themselves This is a very substantial power (Much greater than at Westminster) However, for various reasons it has not yet been fully used. The First Committee bill is under discussion now - The Public service Ombudsman bill. This is being introduced by the OFMDFM committee and aims at creating an Ombudsman (Independent Monitor and Spokesperson) for Public Services in N. Ireland

SCRUTINY ROLE Committees also play a very important SCRUTINY role. They do this in a number of ways: Their job is to make sure the area they are in control of (for example education) is efficiently managed and run.  They can hold their Minister to account - asking them questions to ensure they are doing a good job.  They are also supposed to ADVISE and support the Minister. They can also call for members in charge of public bodies (such as the Water Service , Northern Ireland Tourist Board or in the case of Education, teaching Unions or the Department of Education Civil Servants) to ensure an efficient service.  They can also start an INQUIRY into an issue of importance in their department. For example, the OFMDFM started a well publicised inquiry into historical sexual abuse in NI institutions. The Health Committee had an inquiry into Suicide prevention to get a strategy to help reduce this in N. Ireland

REPRESENTATIVE ROLE Committees should also ensure REPRESENTATION.  The views of the public should be listened to at this level and acted upon.  Sometimes committees meet in different areas to show their willingness to be open to local ideas. KEY FACT: 81 Committee meetings were held in areas other than the Assembly from 2011-13 EXAMPLES: There were meetings on Rathlin island to show that Stormont is relevant and prepared to listen in all areas. Several recommendations were enacted (as you can read later) The Agriculture committee has also met at the Ballymena agricultural show - again as a show of grass roots representation and relevancy They are also important for lobby groups to put forward suggestions as to making policies better. Wildlife and environmental concerns have been put forward this way as have issues such as autism. 

ONE VERY IMPORTANT POINT! : POWER-SHARING ROLE ONE VERY IMPORTANT POINT! : In Northern Ireland, the Committee system is also crucial. It is designed to try and encourage (or some night say force) COOPERATION within and between political parties. Membership of the Committees is based on d'Hondt and so should mirror the Assembly strength of the Parties. To operate effectively members are supposed to work together, setting aside their party differences in order to make good policies together for the betterment of all. The aim of this was to break down mistrust. Committee chairs are often chosen in regards to the Ministers. A SINN FEIN MINISTER for example (Mairtin O' Mullieor in Finance) is countered by a DUP CHAIR in this case Emma Pengelly Sinn Fein DUP

Membership and operation of the committees are of vital importance when creating the Good Friday Agreement. After all the key concepts of CONSOCIATIONALISM (Power Sharing) are clearly in operation. -Membership is based on party strength and the key chair and deputy chair positions are chosen through D'Hondt to ensure proportionality. -Any decisions made are based on simple majority. -It is aimed that the Minister and Committee chairs will be from different parties to ensure fairness and scrutiny (E.g. Sinn Fein and DUP).

The 3 crucial roles; Legislate, Scrutinise and Represent. For example, in Statutory Committees the roles given to them under the Belfast Agreement and Northern Ireland Act are deliberately extensive. These committees have a legislative role; a scrutiny role and they have advisory and consultative roles. These committees are therefor different to committees in some other legislatures, such as the select committees at Westminster, as the NI Assembly actually has wider ranges of responsibilities. Some of examples of Statutory Committees in NI are: Executive Education Health Finance Agriculture etc.

Example, NI Water What Happened? A prolonged cold spell in winter 2010 led to pipes across NI being frozen. Water shortages points had to be set up across NI and schools and businesses were forced to shut. Results The head of NI Water (a public company) was forced to explain before the committee just how this had happened and ensure that it wouldn’t happen again. This winter supplies were stockpiled and a public information campaign started. The process for ‘Calling for Persons or Papers’ is an incredibly important one: It helps the Committee to make better decisions on policy or legislation. It allows MLA’s the power to summon individuals or ‘important documents’. It gives MLA’s the ability to hold individuals to account for their actions.