22Meetings of committee

22 Meetings of committee

(1) The Chairman of a committee shall convene such meetings of the committee as are necessary for the efficient conduct of its affairs. (2) The Chairman of a committee shall preside at all meetings of a committee at which he or she is present. (3) In the event of the absence of the Chairman of a committee from a meeting of the committee, the members present shall elect one of its number to preside at the meeting during the absence of the Chairman, and the member so elected has and may exercise, during the absence of the Chairman, all the functions and powers of the Chairman. (4) The quorum for a meeting of a committee is 2 members of the committee. (5) A question arising at a meeting of a committee shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting and, for that purpose, the member presiding shall have a deliberative vote only. (6) In the event of an equality of votes on a question before a meeting of a committee, the question shall be deemed to be unresolved and the member presiding may direct that the question be reconsidered at a time and place to be fixed by the Chairman of the committee. (7) A member shall not vote on a question before a committee unless he or she has been present for the whole of the time for which the committee received evidence on the matter concerning which the question arose. (8) In subsection (3), a reference to the Chairman of a committee includes a reference to the acting Chairman of the committee. (9) In this section, a reference to a meeting of a committee includes a reference to a sittings of a committee for the purposes of an inquiry by the committee under this Act.