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 present membership of the Committee is as follows:[1]
Mr Russell Brown (Labour, Dumfries)[2]
Mr David Chaytor (Labour, Bury North)[3]
Mr Brian Cotter (Liberal Democrat, Weston-Super-Mare)[3]
Mr John Cryer (Labour, Hornchurch)[3]
Mrs Teresa Gorman (Conservative, Billericay)[4]
Mr Andy King (Labour, Rugby and Kenilworth)[5]
Dr Ashok Kumar (Labour, Middlesbrough South and
East Cleveland)[6]
Mrs Jacqui Lait (Conservative, Beckenham)[7]
Mr Andrew Love (Labour/Co-op, Edmonton)[2]
Mr John McDonnell (Labour, Hayes and Harlington)[8]
Mr Denis Murphy (Labour, Wansbeck)[3]
Dr Doug Naysmith (Labour/Co-op, Bristol North West)[9]
Mr Peter L. Pike (Labour, Burnley)[3]
Mr John Randall (Conservative, Uxbridge)[7]
Mr William Ross (UUP, East Londonderry)[3]
Mr Anthony Steen (Conservative, Totnes)[3]
Mr Ian Stewart (Labour, Eccles)[3]
Mr Brian White (Labour, Milton Keynes North East)[6]
Mr Peter L. Pike was elected Chairman, 24 November
1997.
1 Mr Piers Merchant (Conservative, Beckenham),
was appointed on 29 July 1997 and resigned on 21 October 1997;
Mr Edward Leigh (Conservative, Gainsborough), was appointed
on 29 July and discharged on 4 December 1997; Mr Richard Spring
(Conservative, West Suffolk), was appointed on 29 July
and discharged on 4 December 1997; Mr David Lock (Labour, Wyre
Forest), was appointed on 29 July 1997 and discharged on 20
April 1998; Mr Stephen Hesford (Labour, Wirral West), was
appointed on 29 July 1997 and discharged on 19 June 1998; Mr Stephen
McCabe (Labour, Birmingham Hall Green), was appointed on
29 July 1997 and discharged on 19 March 1999; Mr Gordon Marsden
(Labour, Blackpool South), was appointed on 29 July 1997
and discharged on 16 April 1999; Mr Ivan Lewis (Labour, Bury
South), was appointed on 29 July 1997 and discharged on 16
April 1999; Mr Oliver Letwin (Conservative, West Dorset),
was appointed on 23 February 1998 and discharged on 2 July 1999;
Mr Iain Coleman (Labour, Hammersmith and Fulham), was appointed
on 29 July 1997 and discharged on 5 July 1999; Geraldine Smith
(Labour, Morecambe and Lunesdale), was appointed on 29
July 1997 and discharged on 5 July 1999. Back
2
Appointed on 5 July 1999. Back
3
Appointed on 29 July 1997. Back
4
Appointed on 2 July 1999. Back
5
Appointed on 20 April 1998. Back
6
Appointed on 16 April 1999. Back
7
Appointed on 4 December 1997. Back
8
Appointed on 19 March 1999. Back
9
Appointed on 19 June 1998. Back
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