The new Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
The changing role of the committee after the devolution of justice.
Set up in 1994 to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has gone through major changes since justice was devolved in April.
The new role of the NIO is to oversee the Northern Ireland devolution settlement and represent Northern Ireland interests at UK Government level and UK Government interests in Northern Ireland.
However, Chairman Laurence Robertson thinks that the committee still has a wide remit: “Every government department has a select committee which looks at its work and it has various options. It can analyse different things such as spending of the department or the way they are going about things.”
Investigations
The committee meets once a week and determines its own subjects for inquiry. It has the power to invite submissions of written evidence and call people who can offer a particular insight on the investigation to testify at hearings.
Following the general election, the new select committee was established on
26 July but it is still in the early stage of setting out work its programmes. Its first inquiry into corporation tax is now underway.
Like other select committee chairs, Robertson was elected by his fellow MPs across all parties in the House of Commons. The remaining places on the committee were then decided by elections within the individual political parties. Each party is allocated a certain number of seats on the different committees, which are subject to approval by the House.
Robertson is a former Shadow Northern Ireland Minister (2005-2010). The Twekesbury MP opposed the Good Friday Agreement.
Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, replaced Sir Patrick Cormack when he stood down ahead of the general election. Williamson was then co-incidentally elected to the committee.
Steve Pound, who was a member of the committee until 11 October, has resigned after being appointed to the Labour whips’ office. His replacement had not been announced at the time of going to press.
“We’ve not really got going yet but we’ve got a good mixture of people, which is really what a select committee should have,” says Robertson.
Meetings
In September, the committee conducted an evidence session with Owen Paterson. This ‘scene setting’ meeting covered the current security situation in the province, devolution of policing and justice, the Bloody Sunday report, the cost of public inquiries and dealing with the legacy of the past.
Evidence sessions with the Secretary of State normally take place at least once a year but the committee will discuss how regular future meetings should be.
During an evidence session with Lord Saville on 13 October, Lord Saville told the committee that he was not aware of anything that could or should have been done better in the Bloody Sunday inquiry.
He explained that he was asked to conduct a “thorough” inquiry, which could not have been done cheaply or quickly. Saville added that although the “unique” inquiry had taken up a decade of his life, he expressed no regrets.
The committee also visited Northern Ireland in October. Commenting on the trip, Robertson said: “We met with business groups to discuss the need to build and sustain the economy in Northern Ireland, which provided an opportunity to discuss our new inquiry on corporation tax.”
The group also met with Justice Minister David Ford and PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott. Robertson said: “These were important introductory meetings for our new committee and which we hope will be the first of many.”
Corporation tax
The inquiry into corporation tax in Northern Ireland is examining what can be done to boost Northern Ireland’s competitiveness and to discourage companies from moving across the border. The deadline for written submissions was 21 September. Dates for oral evidence have yet to be announced but are likely to take place in the next few months.
In the previous Parliament, the committee carried out several inquiries on the Omagh bombing, the Consultative Group on the Past, TV broadcasting in Northern Ireland, the cost of policing the past, the Northern Ireland Prison Service and organised crime in the province.
While any future inquiries have to be discussed and announced by the committee, Robertson said that security is a possible subject.
“If the security situation continues to be bad that would probably be one matter we would seek to have an inquiry into. The way things are, unfortunately, it’s probably high on the agenda to be an inquiry.”
