| (a) | Committee Office The office provided the staff for the sixteen departmentally-related select committees, the domestic committees, the select committees on Environmental Audit, Modernisation of the House of Commons, Public Administration, Public Accounts and Standards and Privileges and the Liaison Committee (of which the Chairman of each select committee is a member). In addition the office provided support for two ad hoc committees set up to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of draft bills: the Select Committee on Food Standards (with the additional assistance of a Clerk in the Overseas Office) and the Joint Committee on Financial Services and Markets (in conjunction with staff of the House of Lords) and assisted the Public Bill Office during the evidence-taking stage of the special standing committee on the Immigration and Asylum Bill. |
| | Details of the staffing and work of each select committee are published annually in the Sessional Return (HC (1998-99) 142). The number of committee specialists(1) on short term contracts to work with particular select committees rose to 15; 12 committees now have at least one committee specialist on their staff. Staff of each committee are supervised by the Principal Clerks in the office and their performance monitored through regular management meetings with the Clerk of Committees, and through individual discussions with Chairmen. Performance measures for staff (relating mainly to the timely provision of briefing and advice and production of publications to required deadlines) were monitored during the year. |
| | Committee activity remained high. Excluding the two ad hoc committees on draft legislation, select committees (including those staffed by other offices of the Department) held a total of 1181 formal meetings during the financial year. The 16 departmentally-related select committees held 798 formal meetings (compared with 483 in 1997-98), an average of 38 per committee (compared with 24.15 in 1997-98(2)) and produced 120 Reports (compared with 35 in 1997-98). Among the developments in Committee activities were: |
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| – | Committee workshop to plan work and method of operating (Treasury Committee); |
| – | "Confirmation hearings" (Treasury Committee); |
| – | Report against Committee's objectives (Defence Committee); |
| – | Progress Report (Agriculture Committee); |
| – | maintenance of records of the progress of committees' recommendations (all Committees); |
| – | Reports on draft Bills (Social Security and Trade and Industry Committees). |
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| | Pre-legislative inquiries were carried out within a very tight timetable, to fit in with the Government's consultative programme. If pre-legislative scrutiny becomes a regular part of the activity of select committees, as seems likely, some increase in staff numbers may be necessary. |
| | All reports, minutes of evidence and volumes of memoranda published by select committees, and their press notices were also published on the Internet, which also displays a description of the committee system and a guide for witnesses on giving evidence to select committees. The form of the latter will be reviewed in the coming year in the light of observations made in the Report of the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege(3). |
| (b) | Journal Office The Office has had a central role in the process of procedural change, providing advice to the Clerks at the Table, Members, select committees, government and opposition business managers, government departments, and other offices in the House. This links to its traditional purpose of the provision of information and authoritative guidance on current and past procedural developments. The work of the Office included: |
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| – | research for a wide variety of inquirers, ranging in complexity from the location of relevant precedents for the writers of the Speaker's dossier to major ongoing projects such as the provision of information to assist the House authorities in their reaction to recent Court cases involving electoral law; |
| – | publication of two editions of the Standing Orders of the House; |
| – | transmission of the proof of the Votes and Proceedings daily for overnight publication, involving 894 printed pages, without major error. Electronic production trials are taking place; a fully operational system should be in place by the 1999-2000 session; |
| – | assistance in the drafting of the large majority of procedural motions tabled in the House (which have been of unusual frequency and complexity) and vetting of 277 motions relating to Statutory Instruments; |
| – | 2,625 papers, mainly from government departments, were received, examined and recorded in the Votes and Proceedings. Comprehensive guidance has now been issued to government departments. The Office is preparing new guidance for outside bodies regarding the laying of papers in the light of devolution; |
| – | 1997-98 Sessional Return was published ahead of schedule and without major error, despite the length of the Session; |
| – | publication of 44 Statutory Instrument lists without major error; |
| – | vetting of 84 public petitions before presentation, of which 63 were presented formally; |
| – | the House of Commons Journal for 1997-98 is at proof stage and publication is expected in June. |
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| | Journal Office staff also support a number of select committees, particularly those relating to the business of the House; full details of this support is given in the Sessional Return (op cit). |
| (c) | The Legislation Service comprises the Private Bill Office, the Public Bill Office and the Delegated Legislation Office. |
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The Private Bill Office is a one-clerk office, under the immediate supervision of the Clerk of Bills. Activity continued at a relatively low level during the financial year, reflecting the limited amount of private business in recent years and the routine, although often heavily loaded, work of the Committee of Selection, for the supervision of which the Office is also responsible. In Session 1997-98, little private business was taken on the floor of the House, and there were no opposed bill committees: in the first few months of Session 1998-99, private bill activity picked up slightly, with at least one bill certain to go to an opposed bill committee in the summer of 1999. |
| | The integration of the Private Bill Office, so far as possible, into the work of the Public Bill Office has resulted in two significant efficiency gains: a reduction in the number of principal clerks, with the abolition of the separate post of Clerk of Private Bills, and the training of the occupant of the post remaining in the Private Bill Office to act also as a clerk of standing committees on public bills and other matters. This process has been successfully completed and progress made towards better integration of the computerised work of the Committee of Selection and the Clerk of Bills in respect of the allocation of business to standing committees and the appointment of their chairmen and members. |
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The Public Bill Office. FY 1998-99 included eight months of the long post-election session of 1997-98 and four months of the current session. Session 1997-98 was unusual for the high number of days spent in consideration of legislation in Committee of the whole House, the final total being 58. Session 1998-99 has seen a reversion to more normal patterns of activity, with the House's detailed legislative work taking place mainly in Standing Committees. Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation have been running at a particularly high level, partly because of the large number of statutory instruments being made in preparation for devolution. Although most such committees continue to be staffed from the Public Bill Office, it has been necessary from time to time to call upon the help of staff from the Journal, Private Bill and Committee Offices. |
| | Statistics of legislative and standing committee activity in session 1997-98 were published in the Sessional Returns (op cit). The table below gives a summary indication of the Public Bill Office's workload, showing totals of private Members' bills introduced, standing committee sittings and amendments tabled to public bills in the last three complete sessions and in the current session up to the start of the Easter recess on 31 March 1999: |
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| |
1995-96 |
1996-97
(short session) |
1997-98
(long session) |
1998-99
(to 31.3.99) |
| Private Members' Bills |
103 |
84 |
149 |
50 |
| Standing Committee Sittings |
361 |
215 |
411 |
183 |
| Amendments tabled |
4,643 |
3,216 |
5,852 |
3,268 |
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| | Explanatory Notes to bills have been produced from the start of the 1998-99 session, following a recommendation from the Modernisation Committee. These Notes are prepared by the relevant Government Departments but are published under the authority of the House and accordingly have to be scrutinised and processed by the Public Bill Office. This has added to the Office's workload. |
| | Further progress has been made in developing the public bills section of the Parliamentary Internet web-site. Since the beginning of the 1998-99 session, marshalled lists of amendments to be moved in the Commons have been accessible via the title of the bill to which they relate. |
| | The Office has fully participated in, and provided the secretary for, the official Working Group on the format of the Statute Law which reported in January 1999 and whose recommendations are currently under consideration in both Houses. |
| | The emergency recall of the House on 2 and 3 September 1998 was the first in recent memory to be for the consideration of legislative business. All proceedings in the Commons on the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Bill were taken during the sitting on 2 September, which ended at 6.50 am the following morning. The processing and in-House printing of the more than 100 amendments tabled for the Committee stage placed a considerable strain on the Office, but the amendment paper was produced in good time before the commencement of the stage and in a form virtually identical to that of a conventionally produced paper. |
| | With assistance from the support staff of the Home Affairs Committee, the Public Bill Office has provided clerking for the Special Standing Committee on the Immigration and Asylum Bill, the first such committee to be chaired during its evidence sessions by a member of the Chairmen's Panel rather than the Chairman of the relevant Departmental Select Committee.
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The Delegated Legislation Office This was a year of major change, especially in the task of supporting the scrutiny of European business. The Office provided assistance for the Modernisation Committee's work on the subject, and was heavily involved
in implementing the Committee's recommendations, agreed to by the House on
17 November 1998. This included widening the scope of the scrutiny process to include intergovernmental EU business, and preparations for the establishment of a National Parliament Office in Brussels, to be operational in October 1999. In co-operation with the Library, the Office has been developing the computerised European Scrutiny Database to support the work of the European Scrutiny Committee and to provide an EU current awareness system for Members generally. |
| | The Office also made preparations for the effect of devolution on the treatment of European business and delegated legislation, co-operating with staff assigned to the devolved assemblies. |
| | The Office supported the work of: |
| | The Chairman of Ways and Means and his Deputies, and of the House in consideration of private bills, and of public bills in Committee of the whole House. |
| | The European Legislation Committee [renamed the European Scrutiny Committee] made recommendations to the Modernisation Committee on improvements to the European scrutiny system, almost all of which were accepted and implemented, and incorporated into the Committee's work. With its Lords equivalent, the Committee hosted a successful meeting of the Conference of European Affairs Committees in May 1998 under the British Presidency. It also began a system of agenda scrutiny and oral evidence before meetings of the Council of Ministers (on 9 occasions), in addition to its scrutiny of European documents. The Committee reported on 989 documents and recommended 24 for debate (compared with 873 and 39 in 1997-98). |
| | The Joint and Select Committees on Statutory Instruments. In addition to its technical scrutiny work, the Joint Committee reviewed action taken by Government Departments to implement its recommendations in 1997, and published the results. The Joint Committee held 34 meetings, considered 1517 instruments (compared with 1560 in 1997-98), and published 36 reports, drawing the special attention of both Houses to 98 instruments. The figures for the Select Committee were 25, 82, 1 and none respectively. |
| | The Deregulation Committee reported upon 3 proposals and 6 draft orders and, towards the end of the year, examined the Government's proposals to widen the scope of deregulation order-making powers. |
| | Performance measurement showed achievement of 100% targets of accuracy, timeliness of business and briefing, and administrative arrangements. Speed of report production met deadlines except in the case of the European Scrutiny Committee (64% success rate); this was largely attributable to a heavy workload and staff changes. |
| | In 1999-2000 the Office's main non-routine areas of activity are expected to be: establishing working relationships with the devolved assemblies; further development and application of the European Scrutiny Database; inauguration of the National Parliament Office in Brussels; possible changes to the deregulation procedure; and support for the Modernisation Committee's consideration of delegated legislation. |
| (d) | Overseas Office Official contacts with other Parliaments continued at the high level of activity noted last year. Outward missions in support of the promotion of democracy and good governance were carried out by clerks at the request of the Parliaments of Barbados, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. In addition, the Parliamentary Co-operation Programme (PACOP) with the Russian Federal Assembly built up successfully. In such professional exchanges clerks compare working practices and procedures, in order to help partner Parliaments reassess their own operations in the light of experience at Westminster. The committee system is often the focus for these consultancies and workshops, which benefit from the first hand experience of clerks from the Committee Office. Other Offices and, in the case of PACOP, other Departments, have also made their staff available as expert advisers for this work, which is usually planned and funded in co-operation with the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It supplements support given to the Inter Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The Office also provides regular advice to overseas Parliaments, now channelled by e-mail as well as by telephone, letter and fax. |
| | A heavy extra commitment during the year has been co-operation with the developing administrations of the new Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies, which have sought extensive advice from Westminster in the development of their operations. The Overseas Office and specially appointed liaison officers within the Department co-ordinated the contacts with individual Offices which included reciprocal visits by officers from related services. |
| | Inward visits by official visitors have been co-ordinated by the newly appointed Inward Visits Manager with the assistance of other members of the International Relations Group. During the year an intensive service of professional explanation and support, assisted by other Offices, was given to visitors from more than 50 countries, including 10 Speakers and 48 clerks and other senior officials, some of whom stayed for a longer period as part of the attached clerks' programme. |
| | The European Section provided support to the UK Delegations to four International Inter-parliamentary Assemblies. The office assisted a total of 67 Members and Peers attending 240 separate committee meetings and nine Assembly plenary sessions overseas. The Office organised the visits of two committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to the UK. It also concluded the organisation of the Conference of European Affairs Committees and of the Annual Session of the North Atlantic Assembly in Edinburgh, the latter taking up a substantial proportion of staff time which reflected the scale of the event comprising some 650 participants. |
| (e) | The Table Office has seen an increase in the level of recorded activities in the financial year. As the new Parliament settled to its work, all three measures of daily activity recorded increases. These were as follows (previous year's figures in brackets): |
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| – | database records created (Early Day Motions tabled, signatures added and oral questions entered for the Shuffle: 479 (434); |
| – | questions examined (except oral questions to the Prime Minister, which are mainly engagements questions): 349 (337); |
| – | pages of the Vote Bundle passed for publication: 158 (136). |
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| | This performance was achieved while the Office maintained its customary high level of accuracy. Of the nine measures of performance kept, four recorded 100% accuracy and four more achieved accuracy greater than 99.9%. As a result of the use of IT, the Office has since October 1998 operated with one fewer supporting staff - further enhancing the cost effectiveness of the Office. |
| | During the year, the Office made further progress in its contribution to the studies of the methods of production of the daily Vote Bundle. A staff training programme began to enhance the ability of staff of the Editorial Supervisor's Office (within the Table Office) to contribute to the possible changes in production of the Vote Bundle. |
| (f) | Vote Office In each Parliament, the first complete year following an election exerts the greatest pressure on the traditional role of the Vote Office. There has indeed been an increased level of government publishing and intensive activity by Members, as they have become involved in the principal issues of this Parliament. Vote Office staff have achieved their key objective in ensuring provision of publications essential to the business of the House without disruption. The cost restraining benefit of the new method of bulk print purchasing, introduced during the last parliament, has been proved. In the equivalent busy year in each previous Parliament there was a substantial increase in publishing expenditure. |
| | Work on the preparation of replacement printing contracts has continued. The aim has been to arrange them so that a wide range of companies can compete for the work. The benefits of an integrated Vote Office, containing its own Print Unit facility and its own external distribution system through the Parliamentary Bookshop, have become clear. Availability of the Print Unit for eighteen hours a day has allowed trials of Bill printing; and the Bookshop has now enjoyed full financial viability for more than two years. In both cases these activities demonstrate a competitive pressure to potential commercial contractors which has a value well beyond the small scale on which they are conducted. |
| | The IT staff numbers available to support the whole of the Department have been strengthened, not only to ensure that day to day business can be carried out without interruption, but also that resources could be devoted to ensuring millennium compliance of all systems together with implementation of the House-wide plan to converge on to common platforms and technologies. Effort has also been devoted to supporting individual offices with projects to investigate how new technology can assist in developing improved ways of working. |
| (g) | The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST): Although for management purposes part of the Clerk's Department, POST operates as an independent unit with its own Parliamentary Board of Members, Peers and non-Parliamentary advisers. Its purpose is to brief Members of both Houses on current and anticipated issues of concern to Parliament where scientific or technological issues are significantly involved. POST also assists members and staff of select committees in both Houses, through briefings and general support - a role that has increased considerably over the past year. |
| | During the year, 13 reports and briefings on a wide range of science and technology issues were published. The office organised three Parliamentary seminars on topics of current Parliamentary concern. It also experimented with a new method of working by running an internet discussion exercise with external experts on data protection issues, linked to the passage of legislation on that subject. |
