Department of the Clerk of the House Annual
Report 2000-01
1. Introduction
1.1 PURPOSE
The Clerk's Department is responsible for providing
advice and services to the House as a whole, the Speaker and Deputy
Speakers, the Committees appointed by the House and their Chairmen
and to individual Members. As an overriding priority, the Department
must ensure that the House and its Committees have at all times
the necessary procedural advice and administrative support.
The Head of the Department, the Clerk of the House,
is the Chief Executive of the House administration and the House's
principal adviser on procedure and privilege. In his role as Chief
Executive and Accounting Officer for the House of Commons, the
Clerk is supported by the recently established Office of the Clerk
(see page 25). The Department also provides the secretariat
of the House of Commons Commission.
1.2 FUNCTIONS
In the central task of advising the Speaker and Deputy
Speakers and Members in the Chamber, the Clerk is supported by
the Clerk Assistant and five other Heads of Office within the
Department sitting at the Table of the House. The main Department
is organised into five Offices:
| Committee Office | Overseas Office
|
| Journal Office | Table Office
|
| Legislation Service | |
Also within the Department are:
- The Legal Services Office (headed by Speaker's Counsel),
which provides legal advice to the Speaker, to the joint and select
committees on Statutory Instruments, European Scrutiny and Deregulation;
and to Departments of the House;
- The Broadcasting Unit, headed by the Supervisor of
Broadcasting, which oversees the arrangements for sound and television
broadcasting of proceedings of both Houses and the Parliamentary
recording unit;
- The Vote Office, which is responsible for providing
documents to the House, Committees and Members; and has taken
the lead in contractual arrangements for printing the House's
papers; and
- The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST)
which operates as an independent unit with its own Parliamentary
Board. For management purposes it is treated as part of the Clerk's
Department. POST's purpose is to provide advice to Members of
the two Houses and to Committees on current and anticipated issues
of scientific concern. It is funded from the House of Commons
Vote, 30% of the cost being recovered from the House of Lords.
This arrangement was made permanent following a decision of the
House in November 2000.
1.3 PLANS AND
OBJECTIVES 2000-2001
Because the work of the Department is so directly related to the
work of the Chamber and Committees and other subordinate bodies
of the House, the primary goal must be to support those activities
as effectively and efficiently as possible. The main goals for
the year were:
- to maintain a complete procedural service to the Speaker,
the House and its Committees in all circumstances;
- to meet demand for new or changed services agreed by the House;
and
- to improve the administration of the Department broadly in
line with developments in the public service where appropriate
- including preparing for the introduction of manpower planning
and resource accounting.
-
1.4 CONTEXT
In section 2, the outputs of the Offices in the Department in
2000-01 are set out, together with a report on the achievements
against the Department's business plan. These achievements must
be set in the context of:
- increasing demand for new services eg new Committees on Human
Rights and Tax Simplification Bills;
- increase in time for debates in Westminster Hall;
- new procedures for programming legislation and deferred divisions;
and
- the loss of experienced staff to regional assemblies and secondments
to Government Departments.
2. Plans and Achievements
2.1 GENERAL
The Department met its primary goal of supporting the work of
the Chamber of the House and its Committees within planned resources
during an extremely busy year, particularly for Committees of
the House.
Each Office in the Department reported to the Clerk of the House
upon a comprehensive set of objectives and performance measures.
These relate to the regular work of the Offices in serving the
House and its Committees. Particular attention is paid to quality,
accuracy and timeliness in all regular work and to the achievement
of special tasks and projects on time and within resources. A
high level of reliability and accuracy was attained in challenging
circumstances. Below, each Office reports its achievements against
plans, but there were a number of areas of activity to which more
than one Office contributed:
- sittings in Westminster Hall, extended in hours of sitting
from December 2000, were supported by a team of staff drawn from
all of the Offices in the Department in addition to their regular
duties and so there was no direct cost to the House for those
services;
- new procedures were introduced relating to the programming
of bills and for deferred divisions;
- the Department has satisfactorily completed its second manpower
plan; taken an important role in the committees supporting the
Board of Management; participated in the implementation of agreed
recommendations of the Braithwaite report; and reviewed the management
responsibilities of its senior staff;
- steady progress was made towards recognition as an Investor
in People. The Department has opted for continuous assessment
and the Assessor's initial report showed that a wide range of
IiP Indicators were already met, but that more work was
needed in the area of team-management. This is being addressed
during 2001-02;
- staff were trained successfully in the new software for the
electronic handling of Bill texts introduced in the Public Bill
Office and IT skills were updated generally within the Department.
Training was also given in writing, language and presentation
skills; in part to support the Department's contribution to the
induction of new Members after the general election; and
- in line with the Wilson Report on civil service reform, the
Department agreed arrangements for secondments to and from the
civil service and from the National Audit Office. In addition
clerks were appointed to take up senior posts in the National
Assembly for Wales, the Greater London Assembly and the History
of Parliament Trust.
-
2.2 THE COMMITTEE
OFFICE
The Office provides advice and support to the Select Committees
of the House generally and the secretariat of each Select Committee.
In 2000-01, the Office provided the staff for the sixteen departmentally-related
select committees (and five sub-committees), the six domestic
committees, the select committees on Environmental Audit, Modernisation
of the House of Commons, Public Accounts, Public Administration,
Standards and Privileges, and the Liaison Committee, as well as
the "Quadripartite" committee on strategic export controls.
The Office also staffed the Select Committee on the Armed Forces
Bill and provided the Commons staff for the new Joint Committees
on Human Rights and Tax Simplification Bills. Details of the staffing
and work of each committee are published in the Sessional Return[9].
Select committees held a total of 1,104 formal and 134 informal
meetings in the financial year. The departmentally-related committees
produced 160 Reports compared with 120 and 136 respectively in
the two previous financial years (a 33% increase in the period
1998-2001).
Number of Committee meetings per financial year
| 1991-92 | 1992-93
| 1993-94 | 1994-95
| 1995-96 | 1996-97
| 1997-98 | 1998-99
| 1999-2000 | 2000-01
|
| 640 | 598
| 816 | 860
| 931 | 887
| 524 | 1,199
| 1,067 | 1,104
|
The sustained level of committee activity meant that staff workloads
also remained high; and three additional committees (two of them
permanent) were supported without an increase in resources. Following
the submission by the Liaison Committee[10]
to the House of Commons Commission and the Finance and Services
Committee, the Office is assessing how select committees should
best be supported in the new Parliament.
The performance of committee staffs was assessed against a range
of measures including quality and timeliness of advice, the production
of publications and administrative efficiency. Despite heavy workloads,
all targets were met by the staff of 23 Committees; of the remaining
seven, five only missed one objective and then only by a narrow
margin.
The Office also:
- continued to develop and support a range of innovative select
committee working methods;
- took part in the review of committee work and recommendations
instigated by the Liaison Committee;
- completed the development phase of the Select Committee Database
(to improve committee administration and provide a variety of
management information) and began preparation for its introduction;
- produced proposals for improving committee websites and (with
the House's Communications Adviser) began an assessment of select
committee publicity and press relations; and
- brought into use Committee Rooms in Portcullis House.
-
2.3 THE JOURNAL
OFFICE
The Office advises on parliamentary privilege and procedural developments;
produces the daily and permanent legal record of proceedings of
the House; receives all papers formally laid before the House;
and supervises the orderly presentation of public petitions.
The daily Votes and Proceedings was transmitted for overnight
publication each sitting day of the year even when the House sat
as late as 4.09 am. By July, the Vote was being produced electronically
and this method of preparation has continued without fail ever
since, while established levels of quality and accuracy have been
maintained.
The Journal for 1998-99 was published consisting of 578
pages and 101 pages of index. It was sent for printing in May
- only six months after the end of the Session - and published
in July at a cover price of £90, maintaining the cost reductions
reported last year. It included electronic preparation of Part
II of the Index as planned.
Electronic Publication: The Office has made progress in
electronic production of all of its publications. Electronic origination
of publication of Standing Orders was achieved in the May 2000
edition and, subject to the procurement of appropriate software,
this method will be used in future.
Privilege: Support was given to ongoing discussions on
implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Joint
Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and in preparation of new
legislation on corruption.
Deposit of Delegated Legislation and other Papers: 2,813
papers (compared with 2,609 in 1999-2000), mainly from government
departments, were received, examined and recorded in the Votes
and Proceedings. Organisations intending to lay papers frequently
sought advice from Journal Office staff. A new guidance note was
issued to Government Departments and Agencies during the financial
year. The Office increased the frequency of publication of the
Statutory Instruments list, 37 issues being published compared
with 29 in 1999-2000. Procedures were established to include legislation
under the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
Research and advice: The Office has advised on application
of legislation on human rights, data protection and freedom of
information.
The Sessional Return: The Office is responsible for editing,
co-ordinating and preparing for publication of the Sessional Return,
which contains statistical information on the business of the
House and Committees. Session 1999-2000 ended on 30 November and
the Return was published on 9 February[11],
just outside the target of six sitting weeks between end of session
and publication.
2.4 THE LEGISLATION
SERVICE
The Service supports the overall work of the House and its Committees
in considering public and private bills; and provides advice and
support for the House's scrutiny of Statutory Instruments, of
EU Documents and of deregulation proposals and draft orders. It
comprises the Private Bill Office, the Public Bill Office and
the Delegated Legislation Office.
The Private Bill Office dealt with nine Private Bills,
compared to 13 in 1999-2000. Four received Royal Assent as against
six in 1999-2000. Two Bills (Kent County Council Bill [Lords]
and Medway Council Bill [Lords]) were considered in an opposed
bill committee which met on 14 consecutive sitting days and the
House took opposed private business on six occasions compared
to two in the previous year.
In consultation with the Lords Private Bill Office and Parliamentary
Agents, a substantial revision of Private Business Standing Orders,
begun the previous year, was completed and the House agreed to
113 amendments to Standing Orders on 28 February 2001.
The Public Bill Office was significantly affected by procedural
developments. The introduction of programming for all Government
Bills without all-party agreement created political controversy
and therefore increased the pressure on Standing Committee Clerks
to provide impartial advice to all Committee members and reliable
briefing for the Committee chairmen, not only in the Standing
Committees themselves but also at meetings of the Programming
Sub-Committees which drew up the details of the timetable.
The Clerk of Divisions, based in the office, has been primarily
responsible for implementing the new procedure for Deferred Divisions.
The requirement to staff the desks in the No Lobby during the
voting period from 3.30 to 5.00 pm on Wednesday afternoons has
added to the burdens on Select Committee staff in mid-week. The
votes are then processed manually by Public Bill Office staff,
which is a time-consuming process, particularly when a large number
of divisions has been deferred. From Members' point of view, however,
the new procedure has worked smoothly and has generally operated
without controversy.
Other planned developments included:
- the new format for public bills and Acts of Parliament, agreed
by the two Houses in July 1999, was phased in progressively during
session 2000-2001, rather than introduced fully at the start of
the session, as had originally been planned, the commissioning
of reliable software to support the project having taken longer
than anticipated;
- the project to prepare minutes of proceedings of Standing
Committees on laptop computers brought into the Committee Rooms
progressed from trial to regular use, resulting in a saving in
printing costs and staff time;
- the first bill introduced as a tax simplification bill under
Standing Order No. 60, the Capital Allowances Bill, was presented
on 9 January 2001 and received the Royal Assent on 22 March; and
- the first bill to authorise Supply on a resources as well
as cash basis also received the Royal Assent, as the Consolidated
Fund Act 2001, on 22 March 2001.
The table below provides an indication of the Office's workload
during the current Parliament (up to the end of financial year
2000-2001). Full statistics of legislative and standing committee
activity for Session 1999-2000 are included in the Sessional Return
(op cit.)
|
| 1997-98 (long session)
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000
| 2000-01 (to 31.3.01)
|
|
| Private Members' Bills | 149
| 104 | 104
| 49 |
|
| Standing Committee Sittings | 411
| 376 | 517
| 178 |
|
| Amendments Tabled | 5,852
| 7,254 | 11,692
| 1,642 |
|
The Delegated Legislation Office: Following a review of
the work of Speaker's Counsel and his assistants, a separate Legal
Services Office was established in October 2000 to provide
legal advice to all departments of the House. Although the new
service reports directly to the Clerk of the House and is no longer
part of the Delegated Legislation Office, it continues to devote
the majority of its resources to the support of the three scrutiny
committees for which the Office is responsible. Work continues
towards the further rationalisation of support for the scrutiny
committees by the co-location of all staff in 7 Millbank.
The Joint and Select Committees on Statutory Instruments
were most affected by the reorganisation and relocation of legal
staff and there was some resulting short-term dislocation in the
production of their reports, although not in their throughput
of work, which continued at a high level. During the course of
the year the Joint Committee considered 1,474 instruments (compared
with 1,595 in 1999-2000), and published 31 reports, drawing the
attention of both Houses to 104 instruments. The Select Committee
published one report, considered 116 instruments, and drew the
attention of the House of Commons to four.
The European Scrutiny Committee reported on 1,418 documents
and recommended 39 for debate (compared with 1,174 and 39 in 1999-2000).
The Committee also devoted much attention to the Intergovernmental
Conference which culminated in the Nice European Council; its
Report on The Forthcoming IGC was widely circulated in
Europe, greatly assisted by the National Parliament Office
in Brussels. The latter has now become a well-established link
between Brussels and the committees of the House and, in addition
to supplying information to Westminster, began during the year
to develop techniques for disseminating information about the
work of Westminster committees to the European Parliament and
other institutions of the EU.
In 2000-01 the Deregulation Committee reported on only
two proposals and two draft deregulation orders, but it published
three separate Reports on the Regulatory Reform Bill, and its
successor committee is likely to be very much more active in response
to the much wider range of regulatory reform orders expected under
the terms of the new Act.
2.5 THE OVERSEAS
OFFICE
The Office represents the House overseas; promotes knowledge of
its work in inter-parliamentary contacts; and provides the secretariat
of the delegations of the House to international Assemblies. In
its role of providing expert advice and support to other Parliaments
and Parliamentary and international assemblies and their staff,
the Office organised outward missions to Armenia, Bermuda, Botswana,
Estonia, Kenya, Lithuania, Malawi, Russia, Tanzania and Zambia.
This was complemented by the continuing programme at Westminster
for attached clerks and by inward visits by official visitors
from 57 countries, including 14 Speakers and 82 clerks and other
senior officials.
The Office assisted the UK Branch of the CPA in organising the
46th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held in London and
Edinburgh in September 2000, and hosted the 37th General Meeting
of the Society of Clerks-at-the-Table, of which the Clerk of the
House was elected Chairman. Departmental expenditure on the Conference
was within budget.
The European Section provided support to the UK Delegations to
four international Inter-parliamentary Assemblies. The Office
assisted 60 Members and Peers attending 237 separate Committee
meetings and 9 Assembly plenary sessions overseas. The office
organised a number of incoming visits for Assembly Committees
during the year, and also provided advice to the UK Delegation
to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in considering options for
venues to host a possible Session of the Assembly in 2004.
2.6 THE TABLE
OFFICE
The Office receives notices of Questions and Motions; prepares
and supervises the printing of the Order Paper and other daily
papers necessary to the work of the House; and supports the Clerks
at the Table in the discharge of their duties. The level of recorded
activities was broadly maintained in the financial year. The daily
activity recorded for the three regular measures over the Parliament
is shown below:
|
| Table Office record of activity |
1997-98 | 1998-99
| 1999-2000 | 2000-01
|
|
| Database Records created (EDMs tabled, signatures added and oral questions entered for the Shuffle)
| 434 | 479
| 460 | 480
|
|
| Questions examined (except oral questions to the Prime Minister, which are mainly in standard form on his engagements)
| 337 | 349
| 303 | 302
|
|
| Pages of the Vote Bundle passed for publication
| 136 | 158
| 176 | 169
|
|
In meeting these demands the Office has improved on its customary
high level of accuracy. Of the eleven measures of performance
now kept, five recorded 100% accuracy (compared to three in 1999-2000)
and five more achieved accuracy greater than 99.9%.
During the year, the Office made further progress in its contribution
to the project relating to the methods of production of the daily
Vote Bundle (see 2.7 below). This involved staff of the Editorial
Supervisor's Office working on the trial in the Vote Office print
unit.
2.7 VOTE OFFICE
The Vote Office has continued to provide the highest standard
of service to the House for the provision of documents. As a result
of difficulties reported last year, the Office has taken the initiative
in liaison with Government departments over the supply of documents
and this has already produced improvements in supply, especially
on high profile occasions.
The new contract with The Stationery Office has operated as planned
in its first year. Implementation was achieved without difficulty
and the substantial savings anticipated have been delivered. In
a year of high activity for Hansard and Select Committee publishing,
overall expenditure in cash terms with The Stationery Office has
been reduced to under £11 million a level not achieved since
the late 1980s.
Whole House of Commons - Annual Spend on Publishing and Publication
The project to devise new production methods for the Vote Bundle
has also very successfully reached its first major programme milestone.
The new system for the production of EDMs has been implemented
and live running commenced in April 2001, as planned.
The IT section has continued to support the Department in achieving
its goals and objectives. With its assistance, electronic production
of the Vote and Proceedings has been realised and arrangements
for the electronic production of minutes of proceedings in the
Public Bill Office have been developed and implemented. In conjunction
with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the House of
Lords, new software has been developed and successfully introduced
into the Public Bill Office for the production of bills and Acts
of Parliament in the new format.
William McKay
CLERK OF THE HOUSE
9
Sessional Return, 1999-2000, HC (2000-01) 100. Back
10
Derived from recommendations in the First Report of the Liaison
Committee, Session 1999-2000, Shifting the Balance, HC (1999-2000)
300. Back
11
HC (2000-01) 100. Back
| 
