Annex A
Devolution Guidance Note 12
ATTENDANCE OF UK MINISTERS AND OFFICIALS
AT COMMITTEES OF THE DEVOLVED LEGISLATURES
INTRODUCTION
1. This note provides guidance to UK Ministers
and civil servants* on how to deal with invitations to attend
Committees of devolved legislatures. It does not provide guidance
on the giving of evidence to these Committees. If such guidance
is required, in addition to that which is already available for
giving evidence to Westminster Committees, it will be provided
once it has become clearer how the Committees in the devolved
legislatures will wish to operate.
[* Also covers special advisers, who are employed
as civil servants.]
2. It is open to any of the UK legislatures
(the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly
for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly)** to invite Ministers
(or Secretaries) and civil servants from the UK Government or
the devolved administrations to attend and to give evidence to
a Committee. This guidance note covers only the situation where
a Minister or civil servant of the UK Government has received
such an invitation from one of the devolved legislatures. The
Constitution Secretariat in the Cabinet Office (0207 270 5914)
should be notified of all such invitations.
[** While section 1 of the Northern Ireland
Act 2000 is in force, the Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended.]
INVITATIONS TO
MINISTERS
3. The devolution legislation has created
powers to require by law the attendance of individuals at a particular
Committee meeting. There are rare circumstances in which a UK
Minister might be so required to attend a committee of the Scottish
Parliament. It is not expected that these circumstances will arise
very often and in most cases a Minister will be invited to attend
(as they are invited to Westminster Select Committees). In all
cases, therefore, the invitation will fall into one of two categories:
(a) the Minister is required to attend and give evidence; (b)
the Minister is invited (ie not required) to attend and give evidence.
The difference in respect of the three devolved legislatures is
set out in the respective legislation as follows: section 23 of
the Scotland Act 1998; section 74 of the Government of Wales Act
1998 and section 44 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. It may not
always be easy to determine the exact legal position in any particular
case and legal advice may be required on interpretation. Paper
A gives an outline of the legal position but in all cases of doubt
legal advice should be sought.
4. While UK Ministers' over-riding responsibility
is to the Parliament at Westminster, any request for a Minister
to attend a Committee of a devolved legislature should be treated
with as much care and courtesy as an invitation to attend a Commons
or Lords Select Committee. If the assessment of the legal position
is that a Minister could be required to attend a meeting then
sending a representative will not usually be acceptable and every
endeavour should be made to attend when and as required by the
devolved legislature.
5. If Ministers are invited to attend in
circumstances where they cannot be required to do so then it is
a matter for them as to whether they attend or not. It is expected
that over time a pattern of response to such invitations will
build up among UK Government Ministers.
Initially Ministers will wish to consider each
case on its merits taking into account the following considerations:
— Ministers' primary duty of accountability
is to the UK Parliament, which retains sole authority for non-devolved
matters;
— the relationship between the Minister's
responsibilities and the subject of the devolved legislature's
enquiry (ie how closely linked are the issues, are the ramifications
within devolved areas of UK Ministerial decisions);
— whether the Minister or another UK
Government representative has recently attended to give evidence
on the same or a closely related topic; or, in the case of the
Scottish Parliament, where a Minister has recently given, or been
invited to give, evidence to a Commons or Lords Select Committee
on the same or a closely related subject;
— whether there are particular aspects
of the issue which weigh in favour of attendance (eg providing
an opportunity for the UK Government to explain its policies or
position; a high level of media interest in the devolved area
or a specific case which has acquired a high profile);
— whether the devolved legislature
might acquire the information by some other means (evidence may
have recently been given to a Westminster Select Committee on
the subject or if it is seeking mainly factual material might
a memorandum be provided, at least in the first instance; and
— the effect on the Minister's other
duties and other calls on his time.
6. In some cases, where attendance is invited,
it may be appropriate for a junior Minister or a senior official
to attend even when a Cabinet Minister has been invited. Indeed,
in many cases it may be more useful to a Committee for someone
other than the original invitee to attend. For instance, some
senior officials with geographical responsibility in Scotland
or Wales for a reserved matter may be particularly well placed
to provide information to a Committee of a devolved legislature.
Alternatively, Ministers may prefer to submit a written statement.
INVITATIONS TO
CIVIL SERVANTS
7. All civil servants working for the UK
Government who receive an invitation to give evidence to a Committee
of a devolved legislature (in their capacity as a civil servant)
should seek the agreement of the relevant UK Government Minister
before accepting or declining the invitation. All civil servants
will appear before the Committees on behalf of Ministers. Depending
on the nature of the subject at issue it may be necessary to seek
more explicit instructions from Ministers on the giving of evidence.
8. As with attendance by UK Ministers it
will be important to establish the legal position regarding attendance
(see paragraph 3 above and Annex A). The considerations on attendance
when it is invited (but not required) will be similar to those
for Ministers as set out in paragraph 5 above. It will be for
UK Ministers to decide whether they wish their officials to attend.
However, invitations to officials to give evidence on politically
sensitive issues should be treated with particular caution.
9. Committees of the devolved legislatures
may also ask members of non-departmental public bodies to attend
hearings. In such cases discussion between the NDPB and the relevant
sponsor department will be needed to determine the response to
the invitation and the approach to giving evidence. However, NDPBs
are free to express their independent views, subject to any statutory
or contractual responsibilities and security constraints.
GENERAL
10. If an invitation has been accepted (either
by a UK Minister or a civil servant) and the subject is one which
is currently under consideration by a Westminster Select Committee
then that Committee should be informed through the Departmental
Select Committee Liaison Officer. Irrespective of the current
concerns of Westminster Select Committees it may prove to be good
practice to inform them of approaches from devolved institutions.
11. On all occasions, and whatever the intention
as regards attendance, Ministers and their officials should deal
with devolved Committees with the same courtesy, respect and promptness
as they would use in dealing with Westminster Select Committees.
The Government wishes the devolved arrangements in Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland to operate effectively within the new constitutional
frameworks that have been provided. Behaving in the proper way
towards the devolved legislatures' Committees will be one way
of achieving this aim.
Constitution Secretariat
Cabinet Office
March 2000
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