HL Deb 03 December 1998 vol 595 cc608-11
The Chairman of Committees

My Lords, I beg to move the third Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.

Moved, That a Select Committee be appointed to consider Community proposals, whether in draft or otherwise, to obtain all necessary information about them, and to make reports on those which, in the opinion of the Committee, raise important questions of policy or principle, and on other questions to which the Committee considers that the special attention of the House should be drawn; That, as proposed by the Committee of Selection, the following Lords be named of the Committee:

  • L. Berkeley,
  • V. Bledisloe,
  • L. Borrie,
  • V. Brookeborough,
  • E. Cranbrook,
  • L. Geddes,
  • L. Gisborough,
  • L. Goodhart,
  • L. Grenfell,
  • L. Hope of Craighead,
  • L. Howell of Guildford,
  • L. Hussey of North Bradley,
  • B. O'Cathain,
  • L. Reay,
  • L. Tomlinson,
  • L. Tordoff (Chairman),
  • B. Uddin,
  • L. Wallace of Saltaire,
  • L. Walpole,
  • L. Willoughby de Broke.
That the Committee have power to appoint sub-committees and to refer to such sub-committees any of the matters within the terms of reference of the Committee; that the Committee have power to appoint the chairmen of sub-committees, but that such sub-committees have power to appoint their own chairman for the purpose of particular inquiries; that two be the quorum of such sub-committees;

That the Committee have power to co-opt any Lord for the purpose of serving on a sub-committee;

That the Committee have leave to report from time to time;

That the Committee and any sub-committee have power to adjourn from place to place;

That the Committee have power to appoint specialist advisers;

That the Reports of the Select Committee from time to time shall be printed, notwithstanding any adjournment of the House;

That the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee or any sub-committee from time to time shall, if the Committee think fit, be printed and delivered out;

That the Minutes of Evidence taken before the European Communities Committee or any sub-committee in the last Session of Parliament be referred to the Committee;

That the Committee do meet on Tuesday 8th December at a quarter-past four o'clock.—(The Chairman of Committees.)

Lord Pearson of Rannoch

My Lords, I would like to put a question that I have put before to the noble Lord about appointments to this committee. I take it that the usual channels have been involved in the appointment of new members to this committee. I would remind the noble Lord that opposition to matters stemming from Brussels and from the Treaty of Rome do not run along party lines. Indeed, they have not done so for a number of years. Did the committee, in making these appointments, bear that fact in mind? At first sight the present composition of this committee does not reflect the opposition which runs against the Treaty of Rome in your Lordships' House.

The Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Tordoff)

My Lords, perhaps I can assist the noble Lord the Chairman of Committees in replying to that question. Subjects which come before your Lordships' committees do not divide on party lines, nor do they divide on issues of scepticism or non-scepticism. It is the function of your Lordships' committees to take evidence on matters which are brought before them and to make decisions based on that evidence. It is true to say that there are a number of members of all the sub-committees and the Select Committee who have varying degrees of scepticism or support for the European Union. On a day-to-day basis, that does not come into their decision-making processes. They present information to your Lordships' House in a purely independent-minded kind of way on the basis of evidence which is put before them. I do wish that the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, would understand that. It is an answer that has been given to him many times in the past.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch

My Lords, perhaps I may reply to that. I have had the privilege of sitting on your Lordships' Select Committee for a number of years—and indeed one of the sub-committees—and I do not accept the interpretation that the noble Lord has put on the question that I asked.

The Chairman of Committees

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Tordoff, the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, for his intervention. It may be of interest to those of your Lordships who are comparatively new to your Lordships' House to know that he is the one person your Lordships allow me to call my noble friend. I have only one noble friend in your Lordships' House. Your Lordships may feel that that is no more than I deserve.

As to the substance of the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, I would only add to what my noble friend has said. I can confirm that the usual consultations have taken place and that the usual channels have of course conducted those consultations. I am very grateful to them—as I think your Lordships are on a variety of matters—for the work that they undertake in this respect. Different strands of opinion are from time to time taken into account in the proposals for the appointment of members to your Lordships' Select Committees. If I may say so—with the impartiality that your Lordships would expect from the holder of this office—on a day like this, on the afternoon following the night before, it is not always easy to predict the variety of ways in which your Lordships will exercise your Lordships' independence.

It is not always possible to take into account those differences of view. I hope that what my noble friend and I have said will go at least some small way towards satisfying the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch.

On Question, Motion agreed to.