HL Deb 13 November 2000 vol 619 cc11-122
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham)

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

Moved, That the fourth report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 113) be agreed to.—(The Chairman of Committees.)

Following is the report referred to:

1. Hereditary Peers: by-elections Standing Order 10 which was agreed to in July 1999 provides that after the end of an "initial period" by-elections will be held to fill any vacancies occurring by death among the 90 elected hereditary Peers excepted from the provisions of the House of Lords Act 1999. Standing Order 10(5) requires the Clerk of the Parliaments to maintain and publish a register of hereditary Peers (other than Peers of Ireland) who wish to stand in any by-election. The Committee recommends that a procedure should be devised to ensure that the register is accurate and that those who are included in it have the right to be registered. The Committee does not believe that hereditary Peers who were Members of the House before the enactment of the 1999 Act need take any steps to establish their right to be included in the register. But the successors of such hereditary Peers should be required to do so. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the House adopt the following new Standing Order: Register of hereditary Peers Any hereditary Peer, not previously in receipt of a writ of summons, who wishes to be included in the register maintained by the Clerk of the Parliaments pursuant to Standing Order 10(5) shall petition the House and any such petition shall be referred to the Lord Chancellor to consider and report upon whether such Peer has established his right to be included in the register.

2. Tax simplification Bills Tax simplification Bills are a new form of legislation proposed by the Tax Law Rewrite Project. They are intended to make the language of tax law simpler, but they preserve the effect of the existing law, subject to any minor changes which may be desirable. Such Bills will normally be introduced into the House of Commons, and it is expected that the Speaker will certify them as money Bills. It is proposed that a Joint Committee of the two Houses should consider the Bills after Second Reading in the Commons and that the Joint Committee's report should be laid before both Houses. Given the subject matter of tax simplification Bills, the Committee recommends that when the House deals with such Bills:

It is intended that the first tax simplification Bill should he introduced early next Session. The Committee therefore recommends that the Joint Committee on Tax Simplification Bills should have the following orders of reference: Joint Committee on Tax Simplification Bills
  1. (1) That a Select Committee he appointed to join with a committee appointed by the Commons as the Joint Committee on Tax Simplification Bills to consider tax simplification Bills, and in particular to consider whether each Bill committed to it preserves the effect of the existing law, subject to any minor changes which may be desirable;
  2. (2) That the quorum of the committee shall be two;
  3. (3) That the committee have leave to report from time to time;
  4. (4) That the committee have power to appoint specialist advisers;
  5. (5) That the minutes of evidence taken before the committee shall, if the committee think fit, be printed and delivered out; and
  6. (6) That the procedure of the Joint Committee shall follow the procedure of Select Committees of the House of Commons when such procedure differs from that of Select Committees of this House, and shall include the power of the chairman to select amendments.

3. Northern Ireland Assembly legislation The Northern Ireland Assembly legislates on transferred or devolved matters, and the United Kingdom Parliament has no part to play in the enactment of such legislation. However, certain matters such as policing and criminal justice, taxation and international relations, are excepted or reserved for legislation by the United Kingdom Parliament. The Northern Ireland Assembly can legislate on excepted and reserved matters with the consent of the Secretary of State. In such circumstances, which may be very rare, Section 15 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that the Secretary of State may not submit for Royal Assent a Bill of the Northern Ireland Assembly touching on an excepted or reserved matter unless he has laid the Bill before the United Kingdom Parliament. In an urgent case, the Secretary of State may submit the Bill for immediate Royal Assent; but he must then lay the Act before both Houses at Westminster. Either way, when such a Bill or Act has been laid at Westminster, each House has 20 sitting days within which a Motion to oppose the Bill or Act may be tabled. Under the Act, any such Motion must be signed by at least 20 Members of the House. This is contrary to the present rules of the House which provide that "Motions are tabled on the Order Paper in the name of one Member only. It is not the practice to add names of other Members in support of a Motion" (Companion, paragraph 4.115). In view of the statutory requirement for at least 20 names to appear on Motions opposing Northern Ireland Assembly Bills and Acts, the Committee recommends that the House's usual practice should not apply to such Motions. This departure from present practice would be strictly limited to Motions on Northern Ireland Assembly legislation touching on excepted or reserved matters. The Committee recommends the following mechanism for handling these Motions:

    c13
  1. NO DAY NAMED PART IV MOTIONS CONCERNING NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY LEGISLATION ON EXCEPTED/RESERVED MATTERS 243 words
    2. cc13-4
  2. APPENDIX 159 words
    3. cc14-8
  3. Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill 2,272 words
    4. cc18-65
  4. Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 24,321 words, 1 division
    5. cc65-117
  5. SODOMY: SCOTLAND 17 words
      6. cc65-117
    1. Sodomy with a member of the opposite sex. 26,772 words, 2 divisions
    cc117-22
  6. TEXT OF CERTAIN ENACTMENTS AMENDED BY THIS ACT 2,150 words