Select Committee on Deregulation First Special Report



The Deregulation Committee is appointed under Standing Order No. 141, viz:

Deregulation Committee

141.—(1) There shall be a select committee, called the Deregulation Committee, to examine every document containing proposals laid before the House under section 3, and every draft order proposed to be made under section 1, of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994.

(2) The committee shall report to the House, in relation to every document containing proposals laid before the House under the said section 3, either—

(a) that a draft order in the same terms as the proposals should be laid before the House; or

(b) that the proposals should be amended before a draft order is laid before the House; or

(c) that the order-making power should not be used in respect of the proposals.

(3) The committee shall report to the House, in relation to every draft order laid before the House under the said section 1, its recommendation whether the draft order should be approved.

(4) The committee may report to the House on any matter arising from consideration of the said proposals or draft orders.

(5)(A) In its consideration of proposals the committee shall consider in each case whether the proposals—

(a) appear to make an inappropriate use of delegated legislation;

(b) remove or reduce a burden or the authorisation or requirement of a burden;

(c) continue any necessary protection;

(d) have been the subject of, and take appropriate account of, adequate consultation;

(e) impose a charge on the public revenues or contain provisions requiring payments to be made to the Exchequer or any government department or to any local or public authority in consideration of any licence or consent or of any services to be rendered, or prescribe the amount of any such charge or payment;

(f) purport to have retrospective effect;

(g) give rise to doubts whether they are intra vires;

(h) require elucidation or appear to be defectively drafted;

(i) appear to be incompatible with any obligation resulting from membership of the European Union.

(B) In its consideration of draft orders, the committee shall consider in each case all the matters set out in sub-paragraph (A) above and the extent to which the Minister concerned has had regard to any resolution or report of the committee or to any other representations made during the period for parliamentary consideration.

(6) The committee shall consist of eighteen Members.

(7) The quorum of the committee shall be five.

(8) 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.

(9) The committee shall have power -

(a) to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House, to adjourn from place to place within the United Kingdom, and to report from time to time;

(b) to appoint specialist advisers either to supply information which is not readily available or to elucidate matters of complexity within the committee's order of reference;

(c) to appoint a sub-committee, of which the quorum shall be two, which shall have power to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House, and to adjourn from place to place within the United Kingdom;

(d) to communicate its evidence and any other documents relating to matters of common interest to any committee appointed by this House and to any committee appointed by the Lords to examine deregulation proposals and draft orders.

(10) The committee and the sub-committee shall have leave to meet concurrently with any select committee appointed by the Lords to examine deregulation proposals and draft orders and any sub-committee thereof.

(11) The committee and the sub-committee shall have the assistance of the Counsel to the Speaker and, if their Lordships think fit, the Counsel to the Lord Chairman of Committees.

(12) The committee and the sub-committee shall have power to invite Members of the House who are not members of the committee to attend meetings at which witnesses are being examined and such Members may, at the discretion of the chairman, ask questions of those witnesses; but no Member not being of the committee shall otherwise take part in the proceedings of the committee or sub-committee, or be counted in the quorum.

(13) It shall be an instruction to the committee that before reporting either —

(a) that any proposal should be amended before a draft order is laid before the House, or

(b) that the order-making power should not be used in respect of any proposal, or

(c) that any draft order should not be approved,

it shall afford to any government department concerned an opportunity of furnishing orally or in writing to it or to the sub-committee appointed by it such explanations as the department think fit.

(14) It shall be an instruction to the committee that it report on every draft order not more than fifteen sitting days after the draft order was laid before the House, indicating in the case of draft orders which it recommends should be approved whether its recommendation was agreed without a division.

The following were nominated as members of the Deregulation Committee on 29 July 1997.

Mr David Chaytor
Mr Iain Coleman
Mr John Cryer
Mr Brian Cotter
Mr Stephen Hesford
Mr Edward Leigh
Mr Ivan Lewis
Mr David Lock
Mr Stephen McCabe
Mr Gordon Marsden
Mr Piers Merchant
Mr Denis Murphy
Mr Peter L. Pike
Mr William Ross
Geraldine Smith
Mr Richard Spring
Mr Anthony Steen
Mr Ian Stewart

21 October 1997: Mr Piers Merchant resigned.

4 December 1997: Mr Edward Leigh and Mr Richard Spring discharged; Mrs Jacqui Lait and Mr John Randall appointed.

23 February 1998: Mr Oliver Letwin appointed.

20 April 1998: Mr David Lock discharged; Mr Andy King appointed.

19 June 1998: Mr Stephen Hesford discharged; Dr Doug Naysmith appointed.

19 March 1999: Mr Stephen McCabe discharged; Mr John McDonnell appointed.

16 April 1999: Mr Gordon Marsden and Mr Ivan Lewis discharged; Mr Brian White and Dr Ashok Kumar appointed.

Mr Peter L. Pike was elected Chairman, 24 November 1997.


 
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© Parliamentary copyright 1999
Prepared 22 April 1999