HL Deb 05 November 1975 vol 365 cc1146-8
The CHAIRMAN of COMMITTEES (The Earl of Listowel)

My Lords, I beg to move that the Fifth Report from the Select Committee be now agreed to.

Moved, That the Fifth Report from the Select Committee be agreed to.—(The Earl of Listowel.)

The Report was as follows:

1. CONTINUITY OF SESSIONAL COMMITTEES

Following a recommendation by the European Communities Committee, the Committee have considered means of overcoming the difficulties inherent in the appointment of Sessional Committees on a sessional basis. These difficulties arise because of the time taken to set up committees in a new session. As a result of this it may be necessary either to delay the consideration of urgent business or to contravene the requirements of the procedure of the House by calling together the members of the Committee unofficially before they have been formally appointed by the House. This consideration applies to Sessional Committees generally not simply to the European Communities Committee.

Formerly, it was the practice of both Houses to appoint their Sessional Committees for the session only. However, the Commons have recently begun to appoint the majority of such Committees for a Parliament. There is, therefore, precedent for departing from what, till recently, has been a well-established rule. The Committee do not think that it is necessary to go as far as the Commons have done. In their opinion it would be sufficient to provide that the orders of appointment of committees should remain in effect notwithstanding the prorogation of Parliament until the House makes fresh orders of appointment in the succeeding session. This would enable committees to conduct their business from the first clay of a new session. However, the Committee attach great importance to the desirability of appointing committees as soon as possible in the new session, thus providing an early opportunity for a review of their membership—a point on which the House has recently placed emphasis by introducing the system of rotation. The Committee are of the opinion that their recommendation should apply to all Sessional Committees with the exception of the Appeal and Appellate Committees and the Committee of Selection.

In order to effect the change a new Standing Order will be necessary. The Committee recommend that it should be in the following terms:

The orders of appointment of the following committees and any of their subcommittees shall remain in force and effect, notwithstanding the prorogation of Parliament, until such time as the House or Committee makes further orders of appointment in the next succeeding session—

2. PRIVATE BILL PROCEDURE: INTERVIEW

The Committee have considered the practice of the House whereby a Private Bill which has been committed to a Select Committee is subsequently considered at what has been known as the "Interview" where the Chairman of Committees, assisted by his Counsel, goes through those parts of the Bill which were not the subject of a decision by the Select Committee. They consider that, though the Interview serves a useful purpose in complementing the work of Select Committees on Opposed Bills, it suffers from the disadvantage that it has, formally speaking, no procedural existence. In addition, although the amendments made to the Bill are deemed to have been made by the Select Committee, the members of the Select Committee have in general no knowledge of what amendments have been made in their name.

The Committee therefore recommend that, where a Bill has been committed to a Select Committee for consideration usually in respect of certain opposed parts, it should in future be recommitted to an Unopposed Bill Committee on the understanding that no decision made by the Unopposed Bill Committee should vary a decision made by the Select Committee.

They recommend therefore that Private Bill Standing Order 121 be amended to read as follows:—

121.—(1) There shall be committed to an Unopposed Bill Committee—

  1. (a) every Private Bill against which no Petition has been presented, or if presented has been withdrawn, or which has become unopposed by reason of any of the provisions of Standing Order 113, except any Bill as respects which the Chairman of Committees has in pursuance of Standing Order 92 reported to the House that in his opinion it should be proceeded with as an Opposed Bill:
  2. (b) on recommitment, every Opposed Private Bill in respect of which a report has been made from a Select Committee that the Bill should be allowed to proceed, provided that no decision taken by such a Select Committee may be varied by an Unopposed Bill Committee.

(2) Each Unopposed Bill Committee shall consist of the Chairman of Committees and such Lords as think fit to attend.

3. SHORT DEBATES

The Committee have considered the rules for the conduct of Short Debates. They recommend a new rule to ensure that a Lord does not put down a motion in Part II of "No Day Named" on the Order Paper which is the same, or substantially the same, as a motion which is already in that Part of the Order Paper.

4. RE-ARRANGEMENT OF THE ATTENDANCE REGISTER IN THE JOURNALS

The Committee have considered the present practice whereby the daily Attendance Register in the Journals of the House is listed in the form prescribed by the order of seating formerly observed in the House under the Act of Henry VIII of 1539. They recollect that in 1971 they recommended that the names of Lords voting in divisions should be listed alphabetically instead of by reference to seniority as had previously been the case. They recommend that in future the daily Attendance Register should be made up on an alphabetical basis. They also recommend that Lords who have titles higher than those by which they sit in Parliament should be listed alphabetically by such titles.

They therefore propose that Standing Order 8 be amended as follows:— Leave out all the words after ("the Journals of the House") and insert ("the title or dignity by which such a Lord sits in Parliament shall be added in brackets after such higher title or dignity").

5. STANDING ORDER 38(4): ARRANGEMENT OF BUSINESS ON WEDNESDAYS

The Committee have considered the drafting of Standing Order 38(4) in the light of the fact that the terms of the Standing Order do not allow the variation, on Wednesdays, of orders and notices relating to Public Bills, Measures and Affirmative Instruments. They recommend that the Standing Order be redrafted to allow this, as follows:

(4) On all sitting days except Wednesdays, notices and orders relating to Public Bills, Measures and Affirmative Instruments shall have precedence over other notices and orders save the foregoing.

(4A) Subject to paragraph (4) the precedence of notices and orders relating to Public Bills, Measures and Affirmative Instruments may be varied on any day, if the convenience of the House so requires.

6. CONSOLIDATION BILLS

The Committee have reconsidered their recommendation in their Second Report of 1970/71 that the Lord Chancellor, whether or not he is moving the discharge of the Order of Recommitment in relation to a Bill which has been referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills, should indicate the category into which the Bill falls and should draw the attention of the House to the Report of the Joint Committee.

The practice of the House now is that the Lord Chancellor only draws the special attention of the House to the Joint Committee's Report when it contains a point of special interest to the House. In view of this the Committee wish to modify their recommendation in their Second Report of 1970/71 so as to reflect the present practice followed by the Lord Chancellor.

On Question, Motion agreed to.