§ 7.26 p.m.
§ THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL) rose to move—
§ (1) That until further order—
- (a) the Special Orders Committee shall not take into consideration any Special Order unless it has been referred to them by the Chairman of Committees on the ground that it appears to him that the Order would, but for the provisions of the Act authorising the making of the Special Order, require to be enacted by a Private or Hybrid Bill;
- (b) if the Special Orders Committee are of the same opinion as the Chairman of Committees, that is to say, that the Special Order is of the kind described in Standing Order 216(3)(b), paragraphs (4) and (6) of that Order shall apply, but with the omission from paragraph (6) of the words "In every case" to the end;
- (c) if the Special Orders Committee are not of that opinion, they shall report that fact to the House forthwith and shall take no further action on the Special Order;
- (d) Standing Order 216(8) shall have effect as though for the words "of the Special Orders Committee thereon" there were substituted the words "thereon of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and (in the case of any Special Order referred to the Special Orders Committee) that of the Special Orders Committee"; and
§ (2) That any Special Order which now stands referred to the Special Orders Committee shall in lieu thereof stand referred to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.
105§ The noble Earl said: My Lords, I should like to explain quite briefly the background and purpose of the Motion I am moving and the procedure it proposes. Perhaps I should first remind your Lordships that a hybrid Special Order, which is the kind of Order with which I am mainly concerned in my Motion, is an Order that may adversely affect a particular person or group of persons, and that such a person or persons has a right to petition under our Standing Orders. This House has on previous occasions attached great importance to the protection of individual rights which this procedure, including the right to petition against an Order, affords. As the noble Earl the Leader of the House has just said, the Joint Committee on Delegated Legislation is currently considering procedure for dealing with hybrid Statutory Instruments, now that the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments has been set up. The purpose of my Motion is to provide an interim procedure similar to that under our Private Business Standing Order 216 to deal with hybrid Special Orders, pending the Report of the Brooke Committee on Delegated Legislation. I entirely agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, said about the transitional character—I think those were the words he used—of this procedure.
§ My Motion provides in sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (c), that any Special Order which is, in my opinion, hybrid is referred to the Special Orders Committee, which then decides whether or not it is, in the Committee's opinion, a hybrid Order. If the Committee decides that the Order is not hybrid, it must report that fact to the House and it takes no further action on the Order. If the Committee agrees with my opinion that the Order is hybrid, then the provisions of Standing Order 216(4) and (6), which allow petitions to be lodged against an Order and for the consideration of those provisions by a Select Committee, apply. The retention of this hybrid procedure will not affect the general scrutiny of all Special Orders, including hybrid Orders, by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.
§ The noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, rightly pointed out that there might be a difficulty about the same Order being considered and reported on by two Committees, but I think and hope that this 106 difficulty may be overcome, because the Special Orders Committee of this House will deal only with the hybridity aspect of the Special Order, whereas the Joint Scrutiny Committee will, as I understand it, deal with other aspects, such as retrospective effect, defective drafting, vires and so on, as set out in the terms of reference of the Motion proposed by the noble Earl the Leader of the House. I hope that in this way we shall be able to avoid overlapping or conflict between the two Committees.
§ Provision is made in sub-paragraph (d) of my Motion that no Motion for the approval of a hybrid Order may be moved in the House until the report of the Special Orders Committee, in addition to that of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, has been made to the House. The last paragraph of my Motion deals with those Special Orders which have been laid since the last meeting of the Special Orders Committee, and refers them to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. I should like, in conclusion, to thank the noble Earl the Leader of the House for his generous valedictory tribute to the Special Orders Committee, and I thank him on behalf of all the members of that Committee. I think—indeed, I agree with the noble Earl in this—that this House can take some pride in the fact that it originated the practice, a little less than fifty years ago, that Parliament has its own Committee to veto the subordinate legislation of every Government—a practice which is now common to both Houses. I am sure the Special Orders Committee can now safely bequeath its best traditions to the keeping of the Joint Scrutiny Committee of both Houses. I beg to move.
§ Moved, (1) That until further order—
- (a) the Special Orders Committee shall not take into consideration any Special Order unless it has been referred to them by the Chairman of Committees on the ground that it appears to him that the Order would, but for the provisions of the Act authorising the making of the Special Order, require to be enacted by a Private or Hybrid Bill;
- (b) if the Special Orders Committee are of the same opinion as the Chairman of Committees, that is to say, that the Special Order is of the kind described in Standing Order 216(3)(b),
107 paragraphs (4) and (6) of that Order shall apply, but with the omission from paragraph (6) of the words "In every case" to the end; - (c) if the Special Orders Committee are not of that opinion, they shall report that fact to the House forthwith and shall take no further action on the Special Order;
- (d) Standing Order 216(8) shall have effect as though for the words "of the Special Orders Committee thereon" there were substituted the words "thereon of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and (in the case of any Special Order referred to the Special Orders Committee) that of the Special Orders Committee"); and
§ (2) That any Special Order which now stands referred to the Special Orders Committee shall in lieu thereof stand referred to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(The Earl of Listowel.)
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, we are most grateful to the noble Earl. I should have quite liked to pursue him on one or two aspects, as to how the amended Standing Order 216 will operate where there is this overlapping arrangement, but I am sure that under the noble Earl's wise guidance and that, if I may say so, of his excellent Counsel some way will be found to see that everything goes peacefully. So, as I think we are all pretty exhausted, I merely thank the noble Earl for his very clear explanation.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord for abstaining from a cross-examination which might have been very awkward for me. I would only say that the wise guidance and the counsel to which he refers comes from my Counsel, Mr. Talbot, whose guidance on all the matters which have come before the Special Orders Committee has been absolutely invaluable. I know that Members of my Committee, and all other Members of the House, would like to thank him for all he has done.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I did mean the Counsel, and not just "counsel" as a collective noun.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.