European Statutory Instruments Committee — House of Commons, 2018-07-16
Topic: International Affairs
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): I first put on record my sincere thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) and the Procedure Committee for their careful consideration of the best way to ensure effective scrutiny of Brexit delegated legislation. There has never been a more crucial time for secondary legislation, and this Government are committed to providing the maximum consideration of it to enable our smooth exit from the EU The Procedure Committee’s report sets out detailed proposals to ensure the effective scrutiny of delegated legislation under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which received Royal Assent on 26 June 2018. Following the Committee’s interim report of 1 November 2017, the Chair of the Procedure Committee tabled amendments to the withdrawal Bill in Committee of the whole House that the House accepted without Division. I subsequently tabled draft motions on the Order Paper to give as much notice of the potential Standing Order changes as possible. Following the launch of its inquiry in September 2017, the Committee took evidence from a range of parties, including me in May. I pay tribute to the members of the Committee and thank them for taking the time to input into this important new procedure In its report last week, the Procedure Committee set out its final recommendations, including updated proposed Standing Orders for a new Committee—the European Statutory Instruments Committee. As the Procedure Committee set out, the new Committee’s remit will be to examine each Government proposal for a negative procedure statutory instrument and to recommend whether it should be upgraded to the affirmative procedure, whereby the proposed legislation has to be approved by a vote of both Houses The report published last Monday includes a carefully considered set of recommendations for how the new Committee should function, together with a number of factors that the new Committee may want to consider when deciding whether the instrument ought to be subject to the affirmative procedure. It will be for the Committee to take forward that work, but I commit that the Government will work constructively and closely with the new Committee’s members and staff to ensure that it functions as effectively as possible. I have noted the suggestion that the European Statutory Instruments Committee should not be expected to make a substantive report with recommendations until the September sitting at the earliest The Government confirmed in a written statement on 4 July that the Government "will not lay negative statutory instruments requiring sifting until the necessary procedures for establishing the new Committee in the Commons and the expansion of the remit of the House of Lords’ Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee are concluded. However, the Government is starting to publish final drafts of the negative statutory instruments that require sifting (‘proposed negatives’) on Gov.uk as they are ready. This is to increase transparency and to allow Parliament and the public to have early sight of the forthcoming legislation." I would also like to take this opportunity to assure the House that, where a Minister does not agree with the recommendations of the Committee, the Minister will be prepared to appear in front of the Committee to clarify the rationale for that I turn to amendment (a), which was tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) and other members of the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion. Let me start by saying that I have great sympathy for what is proposed. It is absolutely right that we do all we can to encourage equal representation in the decisions that the House takes. It is important, however, that we recognise that the amendment would result in the European Statutory Instruments Committee being the only Committee subject to rules on the gender of its members The effect of the amendment would be that, whenever a vacancy became available on the Committee, only a Member of the same gender as the Member who had left the Committee would be eligible to join it. Some might consider that there is a risk of such a move creating difficulties with maintaining full membership, particularly for the smaller parties, if appropriate candidates are not forthcoming. I am sure that each party has seen the amendment and will want to do what it can to ensure a good gender balance when selecting its membership of the Committee, but the amendment, although it has my personal support, is for the House to decide upon. The new Committee will play an important role in the coming months, and provided that the proposed changes to Standing Orders are agreed, I look forward to charting its progress. I commend the motions to the House.