committee report template - clean - tynwald · information paper issued on behalf of the committee...
TRANSCRIPT
PP 2017/0038
TYNWALD STANDING
ORDERS COMMITTEE
SECOND REPORT FOR THE
SESSION 2016-2017
Membership of the Public
Accounts Committee
TYNWALD STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE
SECOND REPORT FOR THE SESSION 2016-2017
Tynwald Standing Orders
5. Standing Orders Committee
5.1 There shall be a Standing Orders Committee of the Court to carry out the
duties imposed upon it by Standing Orders 6.8 and 9.1, and to make
recommendations to the Court for the revision of Standing Orders.
5.2 The Committee shall be composed of the Speaker of the House of Keys,
who shall be the chairman, two Members of the Keys and two Members of the
Council.
The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of
Tynwald are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act
1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and
sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984.
Committee Membership
The Hon J P Watterson SHK (Rushen) (Chairman)
Hon R K Harmer MHK (Glenfaba and Peel)
Mr D J Ashford MHK (Douglas North)
Mr C G Corkish MBE MLC
Mr J R Turner MLC
Copies of this Report may be obtained from the Tynwald Library, Legislative
Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas IM1 3PW (Tel: 01624 685520) or may be consulted at
www.tynwald.org.im
All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Clerk of
Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Finch Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PW.
Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1
II. BACKGROUND TO THE REFERRAL................................................................... 2
III. PROPOSAL..................................................................................................... 3
WRITTEN EVIDENCE .............................................................................................. 5
APPENDIX 1: EXTRACT FROM THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT COVERING ACTIVITY
DURING THE SESSION 2015/2016 - ANNEX 3: LIMITATIONS ON THE COMMITTEE’S ABILITY TO FUNCTION
ARISING FROM CONFLICT OF INTEREST AFFECTING MEMBERS, APRIL 2014 TO JULY 2016 7
To: The Hon Stephen C Rodan, President of Tynwald,
and the Hon Council and Keys in Tynwald assembled
STANDING ORDERS OF TYNWALD COMMITTEE
SECOND REPORT FOR THE SESSION 2016-2017
Membership of the Public Accounts Committee
I. INTRODUCTION
1. This report considers the membership of the Public Accounts Committee (‘the
PAC’), and particularly how to proceed in the event of a conflict of interest.
2. This matter was referred to us on 17th May 2016 by a resolution of Tynwald:
That Tynwald supports the work of the Public Accounts Committee but requires
the Standing Orders Committee to review the membership of the Public
Accounts Committee after the General Election.
3. The resolution was the result of a successful amendment by Mr Cannan, then
Chair of the PAC, to Mr Karran’s original motion:
That Tynwald views with concern the inability of the Public Accounts
Committee to function resulting from conflicts of interest affecting its
members; and that after the General Election the Standing Orders Committee
should consider and report on:
(a) making members of Departments and Statutory Boards ineligible for
election to the Public Accounts Committee; and
(b) appointing four lay members of the public to the Public Accounts Committee
to ensure transparency and public accountability.
1
4. The membership of the PAC is defined in the Schedule to the Standing Orders as
follows:
3.2 The Committee shall have –
(a) a Chairman elected by Tynwald,
(b) a Vice-Chairman elected by Tynwald,
(c) three other Members, who shall be Chairman of each of the Policy Review
Committees (ex officio).
II. BACKGROUND TO THE REFERRAL
5. As a Committee of five, the PAC has a quorum of three. When potential
absences are factored in, this means that problems can arise if two or more
members are conflicted.1
6. Ministers and members of the Treasury are ineligible to serve on the PAC,
meaning that there is no chance that a conflict of interest could prevent the PAC
from considering matters pertaining only to the Council of Ministers and the
Treasury.2
7. However, the system of departmental and statutory board membership means
that conflicts of interest can arise with any other Department or Statutory
Board. Standing Orders state that
3.5 The Chairman, Vice-Chairman and any member of the Committee shall not
sit when the accounts of any body of which that person is a member are being
considered.
8. Between April 2014 and April 2016, the PAC was inquorate at nearly every
meeting with regard to matters affecting at least two Departments and/or
Statutory Boards; at one meeting (8th July 2015), the PAC would not have been
able to discuss the work of five Departments and one Statutory Board.3
9. During the debate on Mr Karran’s motion, Mr Cannan stressed that this did not
mean that the Committee was unable to function:
1 Appendix 1.
2 Schedule to the Standing Orders of Tynwald Court 3.3.
3 Appendix 1.
2
I admit there have been occasions when some items may have been delayed for
a period of time before they were looked at, but there have been no occasions I
am aware of that any critical issues have not been investigated.
10. Nevertheless, this is clearly undesirable. The PAC should be able to perform its
scrutiny role as and when it needs to do so.
11. It is worth noting that the present membership of the PAC could result in a
similar conflict of interest and resulting lack of quorum: both Mr Callister and Mr
Crookall are currently members of the Department of Economic Development.
III. PROPOSAL
12. Bearing in mind that this issue may need to be revisited after the consideration
of the Lord Lisvane report, we are of the opinion that the membership of the
PAC should remain the same for the time being.
13. It would, however, be useful for there to be a procedure in place for use
whenever a conflict of interest arises. This would not only be when the conflict
of interest renders the Committee inquorate; we would instead prefer to pre-
empt such a situation, which may be caused by absence due to unforeseen
circumstances.
14. We therefore propose that Tynwald may elect an alternate member to replace
any conflicted member for the duration of a particular inquiry. A conflicted
member would continue to be a member of the Committee for all other
inquiries in which he or she was not conflicted.
Recommendation
That the following amendments be made to the Schedule to the Standing
Orders of Tynwald Court:
(1) In paragraph 3.2, before “The Committee shall have”, insert “Subject to
paragraph 3.6,”.
(2) After paragraph 3.5, insert the following new paragraph:
“3.6 Should the need arise in relation to a particular matter, such as a conflict
of interest, Tynwald may elect an alternate member for the purpose and
duration of the Committee’s consideration of that matter. Subject to
paragraph 3.5, a conflicted member so replaced shall continue to serve as a
member of the Committee for all other purposes.”
3
J P Watterson (Chair)
D J Ashford
C G Corkish
R K Harmer
J R Turner
February 2017
4
WRITTEN EVIDENCE
5
6
Appendix 1: Extract from the Public
Accounts Committee Annual Report
Covering Activity During the Session
2015/2016 - Annex 3: Limitations on the
committee’s ability to function arising
from conflict of interest affecting
members, April 2014 to July 2016
7
8
ANNEX 3: LIMITATIONS ON THE COMMITTEE’S ABILITY TO FUNCTION ARISING
FROM CONFLICT OF INTEREST AFFECTING MEMBERS, APRIL 2014 TO JULY 2016
Information paper issued on behalf of the Committee
1. The Public Accounts Committee explained in its Annual Report covering the session 2014/15
(PP 2015/134) that as a Committee of five the PAC has a quorum of three. This means that:
if one member is conflicted, a quorum can be formed by the other four and a decision
can be taken even if one of them is absent;
if two members are conflicted, a quorum can be formed by the other three so long as
no-one is absent. However, if one of the unconflicted members is absent, the
Committee cannot act;
if three members are conflicted, the Committee cannot act.
2. It should be noted that under paragraph 3.3 of the Schedule to Tynwald Standing Orders,
Ministers and Members of the Treasury cannot be appointed to the PAC. Therefore a
conflict cannot arise which would prevent the PAC from being able to consider Cabinet
Office and Treasury matters.
3. Since April 2014, because of an unfortunate combination of circumstances, this system has
generated some difficulties for the PAC:
DED: from May 2015 to October 2015 two members of the PAC (Mr Cannan and
Mr Wild) were members of the Department of Economic Development. This situation
ended briefly in October 2015 when Mr Wild left the Department. However, in January
2016 Mr Cretney was appointed to the Department. Current position: two members of
the PAC (Mr Cannan and Mr Cretney) are members of DED.
MUA: since April 2014 two members of the PAC (Mr Cannan and Mr Coleman) have
been members of the Manx Utilities Authority. Current position: two members of the
PAC (Mr Cannan and Mr Coleman) are members of the MUA.
Post Office: Mr Corkish was Vice Chairman of the Post Office from 2007 to 2011 and
Chairman from 2011 to 2014. Although strictly speaking no longer conflicted, Mr Corkish
decided to declare an interest and withdraw from the PAC when Post Office business
was being considered. Meanwhile Mr Wild was appointed Vice Chairman of the Post
9
Office in July 2015. Current position: two members of the PAC (Mr Corkish and Mr Wild)
are current or recent former members of the Post Office.
DHSC: from April 2014 to May 2015 three members of the PAC (Mr Butt, Mr Cannan,
Mr Coleman) were also members of the Department of Health and Social Care). This
made it impossible for the PAC to consider any DHSC business during that time even if all
Committee members were present. This situation ended in May 2015 when Mr Butt was
replaced on the Committee by Mr Wild. In June 2015 Mr Cannan left the Department
but Mr Wild joined it. In March 2016 Mr Wild resigned from the Department. Current
position: one member of the PAC (Mr Coleman) is a member of the DHSC.
DEC: from May to June 2015 two members of the PAC (Mr Corkish and Mr Wild) were
members of the Department of Education and Children. This situation ended in
November 2015 when Mr Wild left that Department. Current position: one member of
the PAC (Mr Corkish) is a member of the DEC.
From April to September 2015 Mrs Cannell was absent for personal reasons. In October
2015 Mr Cretney replaced her on the Committee.
4. The table on the following pages shows for every PAC meeting since April 2014:
which Departments and Boards were affected by two or more PAC members being
conflicted;
which PAC members were absent from the meeting; and
as a result of the combination of the two above points, which Departments and Boards
the Committee could not have considered at that meeting, in the event that business
relating to that Department or Board had appeared on the Committee’s agenda.
Jonathan King
Clerk of the Public Accounts Committee
12th July 2016
10
Depts/Boards with two or more
PAC members
PAC Members
absent
Tsy
CO
DEC
DED
DEFA
DH
A
DH
SC
DO
I
CC
FSA
GSC
MN
H
MU
A
OFT
PO
PSP
A
PSC
2/4/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Corkish
x x
7/5/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
x
16/6/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
x
2/7/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Butt
x x
10/9/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Coleman
x
8/10/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Corkish
x x
5/11/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
x
25/11/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Corkish
x
3/12/2014 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
x
14/1/2015 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
x
4/2/2015 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Cannell
x x
1111
Depts/Boards with two or more
PAC members
PAC Members
absent
Tsy
CO
DEC
DED
DEFA
DH
A
DH
SC
DO
I
CC
FSA
GSC
MN
H
MU
A
OFT
PO
PSP
A
PSC
4/3/2015 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
x
16/4/2015 DHSC: Butt, Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Cannell
x x
21/5/2015 DEC: Corkish, Wild
DED: Cannan, Wild
DHSC: Cannan, Coleman
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Cannell
x x x x
24/6/2015 DEC: Corkish, Wild
DED: Cannan, Wild
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Cannell
x x x x
8/7/2015 DEC: Corkish, Wild
DED: Cannan, Wild
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
Cannell, Wild
x x x x x x
24/9/2015 DEC: Corkish, Wild
DED: Cannan, Wild
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
Cannell
x x x x x
19/10/2015 DEC: Corkish, Wild
DED: Cannan, Wild
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
Cannell
x x x x x
4/11/2015 DEC: Corkish, Wild
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
2/12/2015 DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
1212
Depts/Boards with two or more
PAC members
PAC Members
absent
Tsy
CO
DEC
DED
DEFA
DH
A
DH
SC
DO
I
CC
FSA
GSC
MN
H
MU
A
OFT
PO
PSP
A
PSC
13/1/2016 DED: Cannan, Cretney
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
Wild
x x
2/3/2016 DED: Cannan, Cretney
DHSC: Coleman, Wild
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
Wild
x x
7/4/2016 DED: Cannan, Cretney
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
Wild
x x
4/5/2016 DED: Cannan, Cretney
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
15/6/2016 DED: Cannan, Cretney
MUA: Cannan, Coleman
PO: Corkish, Wild
1313
Parliamentary Copyright
Available from:
The Tynwald Library
Legislative Buildings
DOUGLAS
Isle of Man, IM1 3PW
British Isles February 2017
Tel: 01624 685520
e-mail: [email protected] Price: £2.75