Executive Committee Business – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 1:00 pm on 1 February 2016.
I call the junior Minister, Mrs Emma Pengelly, to move the Further Consideration Stage of the Departments Bill.
Moved. — [Mrs Pengelly (Junior Minister, Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister).]
Members will have a copy of the Marshalled List of amendments detailing the order for consideration. The amendments have been grouped for debate in the provisional grouping of amendments selected list. There is a single group of amendments — amendment Nos 1 and 2 — dealing with a technical issue relating to the references to the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 in the Bill. We will debate the amendments in turn. Once the debate on the group is completed, the second amendment in the group will be moved formally as we go through the Bill, and the Question will be put without further debate. If that is clear, we will move on.
Clause 2 (Consequential amendments and repeals)
In page 2, line 7, leave out subsection (1).
The following amendment stood on the Marshalled List:
No 2: In page 3, leave out schedule 2. — [Mrs Pengelly (Junior Minister, Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister).]
Amendment No 1, together with amendment No 2, makes a technical adjustment to the Bill that does not change its substance or affect the policy behind it. The Bill, as drafted and as it now sits, takes account of the current law, including the legislation that covers the operation of the statutory office of the Assembly Ombudsman, the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. That Order specifies the remit of the ombudsman by referencing the names of individual Northern Ireland Departments. Given the nature of the ombudsman's role, the Order is frequently accessed by the public. Consequently, when the Departments Bill was being drafted, it was considered that it would be helpful to make specific textual amendments to the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 to reflect the Departments after restructuring in May 2016. That would have been achieved through the amendments reference in clause 2(1) and listed at schedule 2 to the Departments Bill. However, with the Departments Bill in its concluding stages, it is necessary now to take account of how it interacts with another Bill currently before the Assembly, namely the Public Services Ombudsman Bill, sponsored by the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.
In my introductory speech at Second Stage on 8 December, I referred to the possible need for a technical amendment to this Bill at a later stage, pending the progress of the Public Services Ombudsman Bill. That Bill would establish a new combined Public Services Ombudsman in place of the existing and separate offices of Assembly Ombudsman and Commissioner for Complaints. It is now expected to complete its Assembly stages next week. It will establish the new Public Services Ombudsman position with effect from 1 April 2016, and, on that date, the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 will be repealed and the office established under that legislation will cease to exist. This means that clause 2(1) of and schedule 2 to the Departments Bill will be superseded. Consequently, they will be redundant and can now be removed from the Bill.
Amendment No 1 would remove from the Bill clause 2(1), which references the amendments to the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 contained in schedule 2 and consequential on clause 1. Clearly linked to that is amendment No 2. It would remove schedule 2, which details the consequential amendments, all of which relate to citations of Departments in the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. These are technical amendments that will improve the Bill by removing provisions that will become redundant as a consequence of the Public Services Ombudsman Bill and its anticipated progress in the course of the next week.
The Committee noted the amendments before the House today when we met on 27 January. As the junior Minister pointed out, our Public Services Ombudsman Bill is nearing the end of its passage; indeed, the Committee is seeking an Exceptional Further Consideration Stage late today. We hope to bring the Final Stage to the House next week. When that Bill comes into operation, the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 will be repealed. On that basis, it seems nothing other than logical to make these changes to the Departments Bill at this stage. I support the amendments.
Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. As has been outlined by the Minister and the Chair of the OFMDFM Committee, these are logical amendments to redundant provisions — clause 2(1) and schedule 2 — which need to be removed as the Public Services Ombudsman Bill progresses. I support both amendments.
I thank Members for their contributions and support in relation to the technical amendments. As I said at the outset, the amendments make small technical adjustments to the Bill that do not change its substance or affect policy. They are necessary as a result of the progress of the Public Services Ombudsman Bill and its anticipated repeal of the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. They remove references to the 1996 Order, which will become redundant on the coming into operation of the Public Services Ombudsman Bill. I should say at this point that the Bill does not need to be reflected in the text of the Public Services Ombudsman Bill, as that Bill refers generically to Departments rather than listing them by name in the way that the Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 did. The Departments Bill is important legislation, and I am glad to see it progressing through the Assembly today.
Schedule 2 (Amendments)
Amendment No 2 is consequential to amendment No 1.
Amendment No 2 made:
In page 3, leave out schedule 2. — [Mrs Pengelly (Junior Minister, Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister).]
That concludes the Further Consideration Stage of the Departments Bill. The Bill stands referred to the Speaker.