The Trade and Industry Committee is appointed under Standing Order No 152 to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department of Trade and Industry and associated public bodies.

  The Committee consists of 11 Members. It has a quorum of three. Unless the House otherwise orders, all Members nominated to the Committee continue to be members of it for the remainder of the Parliament.

  The Committee has power:

(a)  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;

(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 communicate to any other committee appointed under the same Standing Order (and to the Committee of Public Accounts, the Deregulation Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee) its evidence and any other documents relating to matters of common interest; and

(d)  to meet concurrently with any other such committee for the purposes of deliberating, taking evidence, or considering draft reports.

  The membership of the Committee since its nomination on 9 July 1997 has been as follows:

Mr Martin O'Neill (Chairman)

Mr Martin O'Neill was elected Chairman on 16 July 1997.