Conclusions and recommendations
1. We
have no doubt that the Government, and others who were consulted
on the proposed legislation, would agree that the draft Firearms
(Northern Ireland) Order is considerably more coherent, and accurate,
a piece of legislation as a result of our involvement in the scrutiny
process. (Paragraph 10)
2. It remains wrong
in principle that Parliament should lose its statutory rights
of consultation over matters it has for the time being reserved
to itself, simply because of a minor technical flaw in the Northern
Ireland Act 2000. As a result of the suspension of the Assembly,
and the Government's decision to use one marginally flawed procedure
rather than another, legislation is being pushed through Westminster
which, if it related to England or Scotland, would be subject
to the full process of Parliamentary scrutiny; and on which, if
the Assembly were not suspended, there would be no question about
the Government's duty to consult. While the substitution of the
2000 Act procedure has provided the NIO with an administratively
convenient solution in the short term, we are concerned that this
action sets an unfortunate precedent both for Parliament and,
potentially, for the Government itself. If the flaw in the 2000
Act indeed makes the procedure under s85 of the 1998 Act inoperable
during a suspension of devolved government, the error must be
corrected without delay. (Paragraph 20)
3. We were pleased
to see some helpful innovations in this year's Departmental report,
such as an introductory chapter clearly describing the structure
and functions of the department and a glossary of financial and
accounting terms. However, the presentation of the report was
again marred by a lack of careful proof-reading, particularly
in respect of financial tables. There was considerable variation
in the quality and quantity of the information provided by the
NIO's offices, agencies and executive NDPBs for insertion in the
Departmental Report. It should be possible to agree a basic template
requiring these organisations to report a brief summary of their
role, their objectives, their actual performance against key targets
and the financial outturns. (Paragraph 23)
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