Page 1447 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 11 August 1992
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(2) Ms Helen Szuty be appointed Presiding Member of the Committee and the Committee also comprise such other Members of the Assembly who notify their nominations in writing to the Speaker by 13 August 1992;
(3) 3 members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum of the Committee;
(4) the Committee report by 6 November 1992;
(5) if the Assembly is not sitting when the Committee has completed its inquiry, the Committee may send its report to the Speaker or, in the absence of the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, who is authorised to give directions for its printing and circulation; and
(6) the foregoing provisions of this resolution have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders.
I am sure members know that the Estimates Committee process is a very important one to enable members to scrutinise the Government's estimates of expenditure, to quiz Ministers and public servants on the expenditure patterns, and to report back to the Assembly on their findings.
I have proposed in this motion a committee of the whole, to give all members of the Assembly an opportunity to take a full part in the Estimates Committee processes. Members who have been around for a while will know that we have tried both systems - having a committee of the whole and having a committee of a set number of members. It is my view that the committee of the whole works much better, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it enables all members to take part. Secondly, it enables members, in what can be a very lengthy and difficult process, to take up those issues in which they have a particular interest without having to sit day and night in a committee in order to maintain a quorum. I commend the committee of the whole system to members. Members will also see in the motion that three members will constitute a quorum. I think that is a workable number and will enable the committee examination to proceed in an orderly and scrupulous fashion.
I have also included a provision that the presiding member of the committee be Ms Szuty, and again I commend this part of the motion to members. Ms Szuty, apart from her sterling qualities, of course, and the great thoroughness she has demonstrated in all the work she has done in this Assembly, is one of a tiny number of members who currently do not have responsibility for chairing a committee. I therefore feel that, in the interests of spreading the workload and in the interests of fairness, it is appropriate that Ms Szuty be appointed by a motion of this Assembly as the presiding member of the committee. Madam Speaker, I commend the motion to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Sitting suspended from 4.59 to 8.00 pm
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