Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): I inform members that the closing date for written submissions to the Committee's consultation was Friday 31 October. The Committee has received six written submissions from six organisations. Those submissions are in members' Bill folders, so there is no point in reading into the record which organisations made submissions.

Mr Dallat: Chairperson, is that not a very poor response? From the 26 councils, only four have responded.

Mr Hussey: It is 11 councils.

Mr Dallat: Are these the new councils?

Mr Hussey: Yes.

Mr Dallat: Four responses out of 11 is not very representative of the impact that the Bill will have on people.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): There are five responses, John.

Mr Dallat: Yes, sorry.

The Committee Clerk: To advise members, we have copies of all the council correspondence as part of the departmental consultation. We wrote to the councils specifically about queries that they had raised in the consultation and said that, if they had any additional information, they could write to us. What we asked the councils for was very specific.

Mr Byrne: Chairman, I think that 18 submissions were received originally, including a submission from the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA). I notice that NILGA is not included here. Should we seek its collective —

The Committee Clerk: NILGA has responded.

Mr Byrne: Oh yes, sorry.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): Members have a list of those who responded in their packs. Are members content to invite some of the respondents and any additional respondents to oral evidence sessions with the Committee?

Gavin is keeping me right, but I think that he said that NILGA would try to capture the views of some of the councils. I am not being parochial, but I notice that Antrim and Newtownabbey District Council has dropped off the list, whereas Belfast City Council is standing in its own right. Are any members interested in any of the councils that responded? Should we invite them all?

Mr Hussey: I find it interesting that, when we look to the west — I come from the west — there has been no further comment from Londonderry, Omagh, Strabane and Fermanagh. I accept that this is a further response, but there has been no further response from that part of the world.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): There has.

Mr Hussey: I accept that there were initial responses. The Committee has received four further written submissions from councils.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): Those are additional.

Mr Hussey: Yes. You are not getting my point. They submitted their original comments. Is that correct? These are additional comments.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): The Committee wrote to them asking for additional comments.

Mr Hussey: That is my point. There were no further comments from that area.

The Committee Clerk: Fermanagh and Omagh District Council responded late. Maybe that is why it is not listed on the cover note in members' packs.

Mr Hussey: We have that "ish" time in Tyrone and Fermanagh. That is probably the reason.

Mr McAleer: Chair, where can we get copies of those?

The Assistant Committee Clerk: They are in the Bill folder in your SkyDrive.

Mr Lyttle: How do you access the Bill folder?

The Assistant Committee Clerk: I will speak to you after the meeting.

Mr Byrne: Chairman, I think that we should take oral evidence from some of those organisations to find out about their issues.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): Members have different views on that. There are five organisations: NILGA; Belfast City Council; the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA); Fermanagh and Omagh District Council; and, of course, the Department. It may make it a slightly longer day for us, but, as councils have different opinions, should we invite all those who took the time to write to us rather than having NILGA speak for everyone? They may not take us up on the offer and may be content for NILGA to deal with it. However, as members have some fears about the Bill, that might be an idea. Are members content?

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): Those evidence sessions will take place on 12, 19 and 26 November, with the possibility of two of the meetings being external, I think because of the building work here. There is pressure on meeting rooms on Wednesdays. Some Committees have been squeezing their meetings in on Wednesdays because of the building work.

Mr Hussey: Omagh would be a very nice venue. It is a lovely place to visit.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): If you can get a good road down there, maybe we will go there.

Mr Hussey: You should travel the road to see what it is like when you get down to God's county. I am sure Byrney would support me.

The Chairperson (Mr Clarke): We will write to them all. Bear in mind those dates and the possibility that we will have to leave the Building for some of the meetings. However, the Committee staff will keep us well informed.