Gaston demands Stormont overhaul following Executive Office Committee scandal

Statement by TUV North Antrim MLA Timothy Gaston:

“I have today written to Stormont’s Procedures Committee requesting urgent changes to Assembly standing orders in order to avoid a repeat of the Executive Office Committee scandal which saw the Chairperson of the committee meet with the First Minister in advance of giving evidence to the committee. At yesterday’s meeting I put forward a proposal which was accepted that the Chairperson would not meet with a political witness prior to giving evidence without prior agreement from the Committee which was accepted but on reflection I believe there is merit in this applying to any evidence session from any witness.

“I have reproduced my letter below.

“Moving on, I would make the following points about the minutes of the meeting between the Executive Office Committee Chairperson and the First Minister which I believe will interest the public:

1. The meeting was requested by the First Minister in order to head off any prospect that the meeting didn’t damage the “positive working relationship between Ministers and the Committee” – hardly the starting point one would like if the primary goal of getting the Minister before the Committee was to get to the truth without fear or favour via robust and probing questions;
2. There was discussion about specific questions likely to be asked in the meeting and media commentary about possible questions in a clear attempt by the First Minister to head off certain issues and obtain assurances from the Chairperson about how these issues would be dealt with;
3. The Chairperson advised the Minister that she would limit committee members to five minutes therefore giving her notice before the meeting even began of how long she had to filibuster – this limited was strictly enforced during the meeting even though much of my time was taken up dealing with interventions from the chair and
4. Importantly, the fact that the meeting took place at all raises questions for the deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly. It should not have taken place without not only her knowledge but express approval. Surely this raises questions about how serious the DUP are about getting to the truth of all this and how sincere their claims that the meeting should not have taken place are?

“While the Committee Chairperson clearly wants everyone to forget about these issues, serious matters remain to be explored and lessons must be learned”.

Mr Gaston’s letter to the Procedures Committee is as follows:

Dear Madam,

Re Meetings between committee chair and witnesses

I write to draw the attention of the committee to events which have impacted on the ability of the committee for the Executive Office to perform some of its functions in a credible fashion.

You will doubtless be aware of the fall out from a meeting between the Chair of the Executive Office Committee and the First Minister on 23^rd October 2024 to discuss the First Minister’s appearance before the committee later that day.

The committee has since established that:

• The clerk of the committee received the request for a meeting at 23:06 on the 22^nd October and forwarded it to the chair shortly thereafter;
• The DALO was emailed at 08:06 on 23^rd agreeing to the meeting;
• Committee members were only advised of the meeting – not consulted if it should take place – at 09:50 in an email saying it would happen at 10:00, meaning there was a delay of almost 11 hours between the request for the meeting and committee members being advised that it was taking place and
• No minutes were taken by anyone from the Committee.

At our meeting yesterday (6^th November) the Executive Office Committee agreed to a proposal from myself that going forward the chair would not meet with a political witness again before gaining prior approval from the full committee.

I would like the Procedures Committee to consider the case for the following:

1. A requirement for the clerk of committees to forward any requests for meetings between any one due to appear before a committee and the committee chair to all members of the committee and not just the chair as soon as he or she receives it;
2. Prior to agreeing to any such meeting the committee Chairperson should be required to seek the prior approval of his or her committee, ideally in a properly constituted meeting of the committee and not via a round robin email or the like. This would not only help protect the integrity of the chair but discourage witnesses from seeking to bounce chairpersons into meetings at the last minute;
3. The agenda for any proposed meeting should be sent to all members of the committee and
4. An official committee minute of the meeting should be taken and promptly furnished to the committee.

I believe that in order to avoid any confusion these matters should be codified in Assembly Standing Orders.

I am happy to develop the case for these necessary changes to standing orders either in person or / and in written evidence to the committee.

Yours sincerely,

Timothy Gaston MLA