The Committee for the Economy is one of nine statutory committees at Stormont, each shadowing a single Executive department. It scrutinises the work of the Department for the Economy 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 developing policy, can launch their own inquiries, and must approve or reject certain secondary legislation before it takes effect. This gives them influence over departmental business beyond formal bill scrutiny alone.
Who sits on it
The committee is chaired by Phillip Brett (Democratic Unionist Party), with Diane Forsythe (Democratic Unionist Party) as deputy chair. See the full nine-member roster on the committee’s page.
Bills before it
Five bills fall under the committee’s scrutiny, spanning energy and business regulation:
- Insolvency (Amendment) Bill — passed, Royal Assent
- RHI (Closure of Non-Domestic Scheme) Bill — passed, Royal Assent
- Petroleum Exploration and Licensing (Repeal) Bill — Committee Stage
- Utility Regulator (Support for Decarbonisation Preparation) Bill — Committee Stage
- Renewable Electricity Generation Bill — First Stage
Data sources
Membership, chair and bill-stage data are drawn from the NI Assembly’s official committee and legislation records, kept up to date by the weekly Assembly sync.
See the committee’s full roster and remit at mlas.news/committee/committee-for-the-economy/.