STANDING COMMITTEES

Standing Committees in the House of Commons have a number of different functions.

1.	Standing Committees lettered A, B, C, etc, are constituted as often as necessary to consider Public Bills in detail. Their membership is announced after a Bill has been allocated to them, and the Committees are constituted afresh for each new Bill. The 1st and 2nd Scottish Standing Committees act similarly for Bills relating solely to Scotland. Special Standing Committees (SSC) or Special Scottish Standing Committees (SSSC) may be established to consider, and take evidence upon, Bills. For further details, see Factsheet 43 available from the Public Information Office.
2.	Reports of debates in Standing Committees are printed in the Official Report of Standing Committee A (B, C etc) for each sitting. These are published by, and available from, and, unless the Committee sits late, are generally available the day after the sitting.
3.	The Scottish Grand, Welsh Grand and Northern Ireland Committees exist largely to debate matters remitted to them by the House. They are constituted afresh for each topic. The Scottish and Welsh Grand Committees also debate the principle of Bills relating to Scotland and Wales if the Bills are referred to them under a motion by a Minister. Except for formal purposes this constitutes the Second Reading stage of such a Bill. The Scottish Grand Committee also (at designated sittings) has a question time, debates on the motion for the adjournment and adjournment debates. For further information see Factsheet 65 available from the Public Information Office.
4.	Delegated Legislation Standing Committees (formerly known as SI Committees) are constituted to deal with particular items of secondary legislation referred to them by the House. Their composition is not noted in this Bulletin. Any Member may attend and speak.
5.	The European Standing Committees (ESC) lettered A and B are constituted for the duration of a Session and consider matters referred to them by the House. Their composition appears in No 2 (p14), amendments No 3 (p12), No 5 (p15). Chairmen are appointed for consideration of individual documents. Any Member may attend and speak. For further details see Factsheet 56 available from the Public Information Office. Committees A and B deal with matters within the responsibilities of different Departments. The list is as follows: ESC A: Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Transport; Environment; Forestry Commission (and analogous responsibilities of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Offices): ESC B: Other Departments

Current Standing Committees, Details of Membership

Bill	Committee	Bulletin issue and page (amendments/additions)
National Heritage [HL]	A	This issue
Finance	B	This issue
Knives	C	No 10 (p19)
Prisons (Alcohol Testing)	C	No 10 (p20), this issue
Horserace Totalisator [HL]	C	No 10 (p20)**
Social Security Administration (Fraud)	E	No 6 (p15)
Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland	1st Scot SC	This issue

*	Membership, dates of sitting not yet announced
**	Chairmen, dates of sitting not yet announced
***	Chairmen, membership, dates of sitting not yet announced
****	dates of sitting not yet announced

MEMBERSHIP OF COMMITTEES

SC C: Prisons (Alcohol Testing) Bill

Mr Timothy Kirkhope discharged, Ann Widdecombe appointed

SC A: National Heritage Bill [HL]

Mr Donald Anderson, Sir Robert Hicks (Jt Chairmen)

Mr Hugh Bayley	Mr Joe Benton	Mr Peter Brooke
Sir Sydney Chapman	Mr Simon Coombs	Mr Tam Dalyell
Mr Jeff Ennis	Mr Mark Fisher	Mr Paul Flynn
Mr Peter Griffiths	Mr Nick Hawkins	Mr Jerry Hayes
Kate Hoey	Mr Piara S Khabra	Mr Andrew Robathan
Sir Wyn Roberts	Mr Iain Sproat	Mr Jon Trickett
Mr Timothy Wood

SC B: Finance Bill (except Clauses 40, 62, 82, 92, Schedules 7, 13)

Sir James Hill, Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody (Jt Chairmen)

Mr Robert Ainsworth	Mr Jacques Arnold	Mr Peter Atkinson
Mr Gyles Brandreth	Mr Malcolm Bruce	Mr Peter Butler
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	Mr Jim Cunningham	Mr Alistair Darling
Mr Quentin Davies	Mr Jeff Ennis	Mr Michael Fabricant
Mr Douglas French	Mr John Home Robertson	Mr David Hunt
Mr Michael Jack	Mr Nigel Jones	Mrs Angela Knight
Mr Barry Legg	Mr Peter Luff	Mr Denis MacShane
Mr Alan Milburn	Mr Patrick Nicholls	Mr Mike O'Brien
Mr Martin O'Neill	Mr Phillip Oppenheim	Mr Ian Pearson
Dawn Primarolo	Mr Mark Robinson	Mr Tim Smith
Mr Stephen Timms	Mr Paddy Tipping	Mr Don Touhig
Mr Jon Trickett

1st Scot SC: Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland Bill

Mr Norman Hogg, Mr Michael Lord (Jt Chairmen)

Mrs Irene Adams	Mr Menzies Campbell	Mr Dennis Canavan
Mr Malcolm Chisholm	Mr Eric Clarke	Mr Nirj Joseph Deva
Mr Brian H Donohoe	Lord James Douglas-Hamilton	Mr Phil Gallie
Dr Norman A Godman	Mr Bernard Jenkin	Mr George Kynoch
Mr John McAllion	Mr Patrick McLoughlin	Sir Hector Monro
Mr Raymond S Robertson	Mr Allan Stewart	Mr Bill Walker
Mr Jimmy Wray

CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES

SC C: Prisons (Alcohol Testing) Bill

Sir James Hill (Chairman)

STANDING COMMITTEES:
MEETINGS 20 - 24 JANUARY 1997

Standing Committees on BILLS and DELEGATED LEGISLATION

TUESDAY 21 JANUARY

1st DLSC: Draft Broadcasting (Sign Language) Order 1996

WEDNESDAY 22 JANUARY

2nd DLSC: Draft Road Traffic Regulation (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

3rd DLSC: Education (Assisted Places) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations (S.I., 1996, No. 1808)

4th DLSC: Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1996 (S.I., 1996, No. 2745) and Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Amendment Regulations 1996 (S.I., 1996, No. 2744)

THURSDAY 23 JANUARY

6th DLSC: Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 1996 (S.I., 1996, No. 2925)

SC E: Social Security Administration (Fraud) Bill (Clauses 15-16)

STANDING COMMITTEES:
FORTHCOMING MEETINGS 27 - 31 JANUARY 1997

Standing Committees on BILLS and DELEGATED LEGISLATION

TUESDAY 28 JANUARY

SC A:	National Heritage Bill [HL], 10.30 am, Room 9
SC B:	Finance Bill (except Clauses 40, 62, 68, 82, 92, Schedules 7, 13), 10.30 am, Room 10
SC E:	Social Security Administration (Fraud) Bill, 10.30 am, 4.30 pm, Room 14
1st Scot SC:	Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland Bill, 10.30 am, Room 12
1st DLSC:	Draft Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997, 10.30 am, Room 11
2nd DLSC:	Draft Sheffield Development Corporation (Area and Constitution) Order 1997, 10.30 am, Room 8
3rd DLSC:	Draft Executry Practioners (Scotland) and draft Independent Qualified Conveyancers (Scotland) Regulations 1997, 4.30 pm, Room 11
4th DLSC:	Joint Consultative Committee Order 1996 (SI 1996, No 2820), 4.30 pm, Room 12

WEDNESDAY 29 JANUARY

SC C:	Prisons (Alcohol Testing) Bill, 10.30 am, Room 10
5th DLSC:	Value Added Tax (Registered Social Landlords) (No 2) Order 1997 (SI 1997, No 51), 4.30 pm, Room 12
6th DLSC:	Draft Professions Supplementary to Medicine (Prosthetists and Orthotists Board) Order of Council 1997, 4.30 pm, Room 11

THURSDAY 30 JANUARY

SC E:	Social Security Administration (Fraud) Bill, 10.30 am, Room 14
7th DLSC:	Draft Industrial Training Levy (Engineering and Construction Board) Order 1997, 10.30 am, Room 12

EUROPEAN STANDING COMMITTEE

WEDNESDAY 29 JANUARY

ESC B: Sir James Molyneaux (Chairman)

10.30 am, Room 9

Document No 7050/96 relating to Artists' Resale Rights

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS OF THE SCOTTISH GRAND COMMITTEE

MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY

Mr John Maxton, Mr Michael J Martin (Jt Chairmen)

Victoria Hall, Selkirk, 10.30 am

Debate - On a motion for the adjournment on education and local government finance in Scotland (Liberal Democrat motion)

MONDAY 17 FEBRUARY

Town Hall, Montrose, 10.30am

Oral Questions

Debate - On a motion for the adjournment* (Scottish National Party motion)

* Subjects for debate will be known after 1.00 pm on Wednesdays preceding the meeting. Telephone the Public Information Office (0171 219 4272) for details.