Homelessness Figures Reveal the Real Cost of Northern Ireland’s Housing Crisis
Homelessness in Northern Ireland has grown far faster than the housing system built to respond to it, and the scale now sits squarely with the Department for Communities and the committee that scrutinises it. The number of Full Duty Applicants, people the Housing Executive is legally required to house under the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order […]
Committee on Standards and Privileges: role and membership
The Committee on Standards and Privileges oversees MLAs’ conduct. It considers the Assembly’s Code of Conduct and the Register of Members’ Interests, and examines matters of parliamentary privilege, working alongside the Assembly’s independent Commissioner for Standards. Complaints about an individual MLA’s conduct are investigated by the Commissioner for Standards first; the committee then considers the […]
Committee for Justice: role, membership and bills before it
The Committee for Justice is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department of Justice and its minister, examining policy, expenditure and administration, and considers justice legislation in detail during a bill’s Committee Stage. Statutory committees advise and assist their department’s minister in […]
Public Accounts Committee: role and membership
The Public Accounts Committee examines whether public money has been spent economically, efficiently and effectively. It scrutinises reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General on departmental and public body accounts, questioning senior officials on value for money rather than on policy itself. By convention it is chaired by an MLA from outside the Executive parties, […]
Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs: role, membership and bills before it
The Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and its minister, examining policy, expenditure and administration, and considers relevant legislation in detail during a bill’s Committee Stage. […]
Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee: role and membership
The Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee examines new and amended EU laws that will apply to Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework, the post-Brexit arrangement governing Northern Ireland’s trading relationship with the EU single market for goods. Where the committee and 30 or more MLAs from at least two parties object to a new EU […]
Committee for Communities: role, membership and bills before it
The Committee for Communities is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department for Communities and its minister, examining policy, expenditure and administration, and considers relevant legislation in detail during a bill’s Committee Stage. Statutory committees advise and assist their department’s minister in […]
Committee for Education: role, membership and bills before it
The Committee for Education is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department of Education and its minister, examining policy, expenditure and administration, and considers relevant legislation in detail during a bill’s Committee Stage. Statutory committees advise and assist their department’s minister in […]
Committee for Finance: role, membership and bills before it
The Committee for Finance is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department of Finance and its minister, examining policy, expenditure and administration, and considers relevant legislation in detail during a bill’s Committee Stage — including every Budget Bill that funds departmental spending […]
Committee for Health: role, membership and bills before it
The Committee for Health is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department of Health and its minister, examining policy, expenditure and administration, and considers relevant legislation in detail during a bill’s Committee Stage. Statutory committees advise and assist their department’s minister in […]