HC Deb 14 December 1998 vol 322 c604
35. Fiona Mactaggart (Slough)

What progress the Government have made in establishing a Committee of both Houses on human rights. [62164]

The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Margaret Beckett)

My hon. Friend will probably be aware that the Government have announced that, from the start of the Session, a statement of compatibility with the European convention on human rights will be made in relation to each Government Bill. In addition, I am pleased to announce today that both Houses will be asked to appoint a Joint Committee on human rights. It is intended to set up that Committee before the Human Rights Act 1998 comes fully into force so that it will have time to prepare its work.

Fiona Mactaggart

I welcome my right hon. Friend's answer regarding the formation of a Joint Committee of both Houses. Will she tell us something about the Committee's proposed terms of reference?

Mrs. Beckett

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who I know has taken a great and sustained interest in these matters. We envisage that the Joint Committee's terms of reference will include the conduct of inquiries into general human rights issues in the United Kingdom, the scrutiny of remedial orders, the examination of draft legislation where there is doubt about compatibility with the ECHR, and the issue of whether there is a need for a human rights commission to monitor the operation of the Human Rights Act.

Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome)

Does the right hon. Lady realise that both sides of the House will welcome that announcement? Will the Joint Committee have any purview in the field of foreign affairs as well as Britain's human rights policy? Will the annual report on human rights, which is always welcome—whatever criticisms we may make of its contents—be discussed in this House in future?

Mrs. Beckett

It is not intended that the Joint Committee will have a role in commenting on the handling of human rights overseas. It is specifically geared to scrutiny within the United Kingdom. As for debating such matters in the context of various reports, the hon. Gentleman is sufficiently assiduous in attending business questions to recognise that I am not in a position to give him an assurance on that point.