Standing Orders and Select Committees — House of Commons, 2016-10-11
Topic: Government Operations
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That, with effect from 17 October 2016, the following amendments and related provisions be made in respect of Standing Orders: A: Select Committees Related to Government Departments (1) That Standing Order No. 152 (Select committees related to government departments) be amended in the Table in paragraph (2), in item 1, by leaving out "Innovation and Skills" in each place it occurs and inserting "Energy and Industrial Strategy" B: Related Provisions (2) That all proceedings of the House and of its select committees in this Parliament relating to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee shall be read and have effect as if they had been done in relation to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, including for the purposes of calculating any period under Standing Order No. 122A (Term limits for chairs of select committees) C: Liaison Committee (3) That the Resolution of the House of 10 September 2015 (Liaison Committee (Membership)) be amended, in paragraph (2), by leaving out "Innovation and Skills" and inserting "Energy and Industrial Strategy" D. European Committees (4) That the Table in paragraph (7) of Standing Order No. 119 (European Committees) be amended in respect of European Committee C, by leaving out "Innovation and Skills" and inserting "Energy and Industrial Strategy" It might be for the convenience of the House if, in speaking briefly to motion 6, I say a little about the other motions, since they all relate to each other. Motions 6 to 11 seek to change the arrangements in the Standing Orders of the House for Select Committees, following the recent changes to the machinery of government. First, they change the name of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. Secondly, they remove references in Standing Orders to the Energy and Climate Change Committee. Thirdly, they introduce two new Select Committees for International Trade and on Exiting the European Union. The motions also allocate the Chair of the EU Exit Committee to Labour and the Chair of the International Trade Committee to the Scottish National party The changes allow for the usual notice periods applying to elections of Select Committee Chairs to be disapplied, and they enable you, Mr Speaker, to announce a date for an election of Chairs before 20 October, since the House has already been without effective Select Committees in these areas for quite a long time Question put and agreed to. Standing Orders Etc. (Machinery of Government Changes) (Energy and Climate Change) Resolved, That, with effect from 17 October 2016, the following amendments and related provisions be made in respect of Standing Orders: A: Select Committees Related to Government Departments (1) That Standing Order No. 152 (Select committees related to government departments) be amended in the Table in paragraph (2) by leaving out item 6 B: Liaison Committee (2) That the Resolution of the House of 10 September 2015 (Liaison Committee (Membership)) be amended, in paragraph (2), by leaving out "Energy and Climate Change,". C: European Committees (3) That the Table in paragraph (7) of Standing Order No. 119 (European Committees) be amended in respect of European Committee A, by leaving out "Energy and Climate Change" D: Planning: National Policy Statements (4) That paragraph (7)(a)(i) of Standing Order No. 145 (Liaison Committee) be amended by leaving out "Energy and Climate Change" (5) That paragraph (2) of Standing Order No. 152H (Planning: national policy statements) be amended by leaving out "Energy and Climate Change".—(Mr Lidington.) Standing Orders Etc. (Machinery of Government Changes) (Exiting the European Union) Motion made, and Question proposed, That, with effect from 17 October 2016 and for the remainder of this Parliament, the following changes be made to Standing Orders; and that such changes shall cease to have effect upon the lapse or repeal of the temporary Standing Order on the Committee on Exiting the European Union: A: Committee on Exiting the European Union (1) There shall be a select committee, to be called the Committee on Exiting the European Union, to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Exiting the European Union and related matters falling within the responsibilities of associated public bodies (2) The committee shall consist of no more than twenty-one Members including: (a) the chair; and (b) no more than twenty other Members who shall be nominated upon a motion made on behalf of the Committee of Selection as set out in Standing Order No. 121 (Nomination of select committees); and the provisions of Standing Order No. 121(2) shall apply to motions for the nomination and discharge of Members to and from the committee as if it were a committee not established under a temporary standing order (3) Unless the House otherwise orders, each Member nominated to the committee shall continue to be a member of it for the remainder of the Parliament (4) The committee shall have the power to appoint a sub-committee (5) The committee and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have the assistance of the Counsel to the Speaker (6) The committee and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have power to appoint legal advisers, and specialist advisers either to supply information which is not readily available or to elucidate matters of complexity within the committee’s order of reference (7) The committee and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have power to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House, to adjourn from place to place and to report from time to time the evidence taken before them (8) The quorum of the committee shall be six and the quorum of any sub-committee appointed by it shall be three (9) The committee shall have power to report from time to time, and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have power to report to the committee from time to time B: Election of Select Committee Chairs (10) That Standing Order No. 122B (Election of select committee chairs) be amended in paragraph (1), by inserting, in the appropriate place, "the Committee on Exiting the European Union". C: Liaison Committee (11) That the Resolution of the House of 10 September 2015 (Liaison Committee (Membership)) be amended, in paragraph (2), by inserting, in the appropriate place, "Exiting the European Union" D:European Committees (12) That Standing Order No. 119 (European Committees) be amended as follows: (a) in paragraph (4) by inserting after "departments)" the words ", or the Committee on Exiting the European Union"; and (b) in the Table in paragraph (7), in respect of European Committee B, by inserting, in the appropriate place, "Exiting the European Union" E: European Scrutiny Committee (13) That paragraph (12) of Standing Order No. 143 (European Scrutiny Committee) be amended by inserting, in the appropriate place, "the Committee on Exiting the European Union" F: Public Bodies: Draft Orders (14) That Standing Order No. 152K (Public bodies: draft orders) be amended as follows: (a) after sub-paragraph (b) to paragraph (1) to insert "(c) in respect of a draft order laid by a Minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, the Committee on Exiting the European Union"; and (b) in paragraph (2) by inserting after "departments)" the words ", or the Committee on Exiting the European Union" G: Positions for which Additional Salaries are Payable for the Purposes of Section 4a(2) of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 (15) That the Order of the House of 19 March 2013 (Positions for which additional salaries are payable for the purposes of section 4A(2) of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009) be amended, in paragraph (1)(a), by inserting, in the appropriate place, "the Committee on Exiting the European Union".— (Mr Lidington.)