MAB03 Cathy Mason MLA, Chairperson of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Northern Ireland Assembly

Pwyllgor y Bil Atebolrwydd Aelodau | Member Accountability Bill Committee

Bil Senedd Cymru (Atebolrwydd Aelodau ac Etholiadau) | Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill

Thank you for your correspondence dated 29 October 2025, inviting my views as Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee on Standards and Privileges (CSP) on Part 2 of the abovementioned Bill, which proposes:

1.     placing the Senedd’s Standards of Conduct Committee on a statutory basis;

2.    introducing a new section to the Government of Wales Act 2006 that would allow for the appointment of lay members to the Standards of Conduct Committee; and

3.    to provide the Senedd Commissioner for Standards with the power to initiate their own investigations.

 

While I am unable to attend the planned oral evidence session, the CSP agreed at its meeting on 12 November 2025, to provide this written response, to help inform your Committee’s considerations.

In terms of the proposal at 1, you may wish to note that the CSP is established, not directly in legislation as a ‘statutory committee’, but as a non-statutory ‘standing committee’ as provided for in Assembly Standing Orders 50-52, 57 and 69A-C. In that regard, the CSP may exercise the power to call for witnesses and documents, as provided for in section 44(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.  To date, the existing legal/procedural arrangements have served the CSP well and the issue of placing the Committee on a statutory basis has not arisen.

Regarding the proposal at 2, that would allow for the appointment of lay members to the Standards of Conduct Committee, in January 2020, the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ political deal proposed that the CSP “…would be enhanced by the appointment of 3 independent lay members with voting rights”.  However, when the current CSP revisited this matter earlier this year, it concluded that there was no case for the appointment of lay members to the Committee, and it therefore agreed that it would not seek to progress the issue.      

Finally, as regards the proposal at 3, you may wish to note that the Assembly Commissioner for Standards already has the power to initiate his or her own investigations. This power is provided for in section 17(1)(b) of the Assembly Members (Independent Financial Review and Standards) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. 

I hope that the response will be of assistance to the Committee during its scrutiny of the Bill.

Yours sincerely

 

Cathy Mason MLA

Chairperson of the Committee on Standards and Privileges