Hooper questions when Tynwald Committees start reporting to the press

Fri, 27 Oct 2023

Ramsey MHK, Lawrie Hooper took to X (formally known as twitter) to question “since when did Tynwald Committees stop reporting to Tynwald and start reporting to the press?”

This was in response to a Committee Media Release published by the Economic Policy Review Committee on Work Permits, Business, Banking, and More: Department for Enterprise gives evidence to Tynwald Committee.

Energy FM asked Mr Hooper for a comment and he said:

“Funnily enough I don't think I've actually been sent the press release by the Committee, I've only seen it as reported in the media, but this could just be me having missed it. So as far as I know this hasn't been presented to Tynwald (or Members of Tynwald) and I'm not aware of any proposals from the Committee that indicate they will be presenting a report to Tynwald on their views, with evidence, either.

“There was no evidence presented by the Committee to support its views as expressed in the press release which is quite concerning from my perspective as a Member of Tynwald. I would ordinarily expect Committee statements or conclusions to be supported by evidence so we as Members (and the public) can understand where the views come from. Committee reports and conclusions should be debated by Tynwald, which isn't possible when they choose not to report and instead conduct business via the press.”

The normal process for a Tynwald Committee is to consider policy issues, scrutinise the work and expenditure of the government and investigate matters referred to them. 

Committee reports are usually produced at the conclusion of an investigation. These reports, and any recommendations made therein, are laid before the Chamber by which the Committees were appointed, where they may be debated and voted upon.

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