Lord Bruce of Doningtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
In respect of year 2001–02 (or in respect of any convenient period in the year 2002), how many items of European Union directives, decisions, regulation or other European Union forms of legislation became legally applicable or enforceable in the United Kingdom without prior scrutiny by Parliament's European Scrutiny Committees. [HL5273]
§ Lord Williams of MostynBetween January and November 2001 (a period for which figures are readily available) some 600 documents containing proposals for legislation by the Council of Ministers were deposited in Parliament. A precise figure for separate legislative proposals considered by the Scrutiny Committees is not available since a number of the documents considered contained more than one legislative proposal or covered amendments to proposals deposited earlier. A level of agreement (as defined by the Scrutiny Reserve Resolutions) was reached in the Council of Ministers on 53 legislative instruments before the scrutiny committees could complete scrutiny. Eleven of these occurred while Parliament was sitting. Forty-two occurred while Parliament was either in Recess or dissolved for the 2001 General Election.