Getting more from our MLAs
Stormont's bloated legislative process needs a radical overhaul - but is better than direct rule , argues RICK WILFORD
THE assembly's summer recess provides an opportunity to reflect on its performance over the past year.
It has clearly been an annus horribilis for all UK politicians, given the expenses and allowances scandal.
Though some are much more deserving of public scorn and legal action han others, all politicians face an uphill battle trying to restore an already battered reputation.
Here, the recently published Life and Times Survey demonstrates that 84 per cent of the population have little or no trust in politicians and that a majority (53 per cent) are either very or fairly dissatisfied with our MLAs' performance, with a further 25 per cent undecided.
A majority (57 per cent) also believe that devolution has made no difference to the say ordinary people have in the running of Northern Ireland: a particularly damaging critique of the quality of our democracy.
There is, though, a silver lining to these clouds: 64 per cent believe that the Assembly has achieved either a lot or, mostly, a little, which supplies some comfort to our MLAs.
But on the crucial matter of trust, our politicians, like those in Britain, must now become as Caesar's wife: beyond reproach.
Any delay here in implementing a new expenses and allowances regime, as is presently the case, will fuel even more suspicion about our MLAs as they tackle the business of politics.
And there is much business to be done.
Over the last year, just 11 bills received Royal Assent, the centrepiece of which was the Department of Justice Bill, paving the way for the devolution of policing and justice, so painfully teased out at the Hillsborough talks.
But David Ford's appointment to the justice post, on terms due to expire by 2012, and the creation of a justice committee, have added to an already burdensome legislative and scrutiny workload.
Of course, the Lord helps those who help themselves, yet our MLAs have been uncomprehendingly reluctant to improve the efficiency with which they deal with assembly business, particularly at committee level.
The statutory committees, which scrutinize the dozen devolved departments, are too large they each have 11 members (their Scottish counterparts have eight). Most MLAs sit on at least two committees, some on as many as four, while a majority of them are also local councillors.
While Dawn Purvis’ Private Members Bill, currently before the Assembly, seeks to end the assembly/council dual mandate, little headway has been made in improving the efficiency of the committees.
Proposals to reduce their size, to make routine use of sub-committees and adopt a rapporteur system, measures common in other parliaments, have not found favour among our MLAs.
Yet, multiple committee membership, almost wholly absent elsewhere, is bad practice: even the most able of parliamentarians would find it difficult, if not impossible, to sit on more than one scrutiny committee if they take the job at all seriously.
Given the ubiquity of multiple committee memberships, one may form the impression that most of our MLAs are rather like hamsters running around a wheel: busy, but not especially productive.
Over the past year, the statutory committees excluding the newly created justice committee produced a total of 34 reports: an average of around three each, many of which were reports on the committee stage of legislation.
Continued on page 24
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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