|
1997-98 |
1998-99 |
1999-2000 |
2000-01 |
2001-02 |
|
(long session) |
|
|
(short session) |
(to 31 March 02) |
| Private |
| Members' Bills |
149 |
104 |
104 |
63 |
63 |
| Standing |
| Committee |
| Sittings |
411 |
376 |
517 |
229 |
298 |
| Amendments |
| Tabled |
5,852 |
7,254 |
11,692 |
2,254 |
4,571 |
The Delegated Legislation
Office: Standing Order
changes to replace the Deregulation Committee were agreed just
before the dissolution in May, thus allowing the new Deregulation
and Regulatory Reform Committee to begin work early in the new
Parliament. Much of the Committee's work in the early part of
the year involved defining its relations with Whitehall, and
completing work already under way on deregulation proposals
laid under the former procedure. But the Committee's year as
a whole was, as anticipated, much more active: it reported on
three deregulation and six regulatory reform proposals, and
on four deregulation and three regulatory reform Orders, publishing
11 reports in all.
As planned, further progress
was made towards the rationalisation of services for the three
committees in the Office. This largely concerned the Deregulation
and Regulatory Reform Committee and the Joint Committee on
Statutory Instruments, the support teams for both being now
headed by a single Clerk, sharing the same corridor in 7 Millbank
as the Legal Services Office and the European Scrutiny Committee,
and some common services. As a result all procedural, administrative
and legal support for the three committees is now co-located,
and the benefits of closer co-operation and cross-fertilisation
of ideas are already being felt.
Eighteen months of re-organisation
and re-location continued to have some effects on the work of
the Joint and Select Committees on Statutory Instruments until
the autumn of 2001, and report publication for the first months
of the year still failed to meet the punctuality targets set
by the Department. During the year the Joint Committee considered
1,881 instruments (compared with 1,474 in 2000-01), and published
36 reports, drawing the attention of both Houses to 117 instruments.
The Select Committee published three Reports and considered
61 instruments, drawing the attention of the House of Commons
to three. By the beginning of 2002 targets for report publication
were again being met or exceeded.
The European Scrutiny Committee
reported on 1,212 documents and recommended 52 for debate (compared
with 1,408 and 39 in 2000-01). The Committee in the new Parliament
decided to pick up one of the main issues arising from the Nice
summit and embarked on a new major thematic inquiry into Democracy
and Accountability in Europe. Towards the end of the year the
Committee's staff, together with other staff of the Delegated
Legislation Office and the Overseas Office, were also becoming
increasingly drawn into support for the United Kingdom Parliamentary
Representatives to the Convention on the Future of Europe. In
both these exercises the National Parliament Office in Brussels
was playing a pivotal role, demonstrating the considerable advantage
to the House of having its own base, albeit a small one, close
to the main EU institutions. In other respects the National
Parliament Office continued to provide invaluable support for
the regular work of the European Scrutiny Committee and other
select committees. Advantage was taken of the dissolution period
to send a number of committee staff, of all grades, on short
training attachments to Brussels and Strasbourg in order to
raise awareness of EU activities among other committee teams.
2.5
The
Overseas Office
The Overseas 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 assemblies and their staff, the Office
organised outward missions to, among other countries, Armenia,
Russia and Zambia.
This activity was complemented
by the regular programme at Westminster for attached clerks
and by inward visitors from 76 countries, including 14 Speakers
and 63 Clerks and other senior officials. The Office also assisted
the UK Branch of the CPA at the Jubilee Conference held in London
and Oxford from 10 to 16 March 2002.
The European Section provided
support to the UK Delegations to four International Inter-Parliamentary
Assemblies. The Office assisted 61 Members and Peers attending
232 separate Committee meetings and 13 Assembly plenary sessions
overseas. The Office also organised a number of incoming visits
for Assembly Committees during the year. In addition arrangements
were started for the UK Delegation to host the annual Session
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security
and Co-operation in Europe in 2004.
2.6
The
Table Office
The Table 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 (the Vote
Bundle); and supports the Clerks at the Table in the discharge
of their duties.
Since the general
election there has been an unparallelled increase (70%) in the
number of Questions tabled for written answer and a smaller
but significant increase in the number of names added to Early
Day Motions. The table below shows the average daily
activity recorded for the three regular measures of performance.
| Table Office record of
activity |
1997-98 |
1998-99 |
1999-2000 |
2000-01 |
2001-02 |
| Database Records created
|
434 |
479 |
460 |
480 |
568 |
| (EDMs tabled, Signatures |
| added and oral questions
|
| entered for the Shuffle)
|
| Questions examined (except
|
337 |
349 |
303 |
302 |
460 |
| oral questions to the |
| Prime Minister, which are
|
| mainly in standard form |
| on his engagements) |
| Pages of the Vote Bundle
|
136 |
158 |
176 |
169 |
160 |
| passed for publication |
Notwithstanding the increased
workload, the Office has maintained a high level of accuracy.
Of the eleven measures of performance kept, three recorded 100%
accuracy (compared with five in 2000-01) and for four others
accuracy greater than 99.9% was recorded.
During the year the Office
contributed to the arrangements for newly-elected Members of
Parliament after the election, including procedural briefings
on Questions and Motions, and submitted evidence to the Procedure
Committee's inquiry into Parliamentary Questions. It also contributed
to the successful full implementation of the first stage of
the Vote Bundle project (see below) and to the planning of the
second phase, including further IT training for editorial staff
and preparing for their relocation from the Parliamentary Press
to Westminster (planned for autumn 2002).
2.7
The Legal Services Office
The Legal Services Office, in addition to its regular work in
relation to Private Bills, has made substantial progress in
its support for the scrutiny of delegated legislation and the
work of the Delegated Legislation Office. It has also developed
its role as the provider of advice on legal matters to Departments
of the House. During the year the Office:
-
contributed
significantly to the reorganisation and development of the
work of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, enhancing
the scope and timeliness of its reports;
-
participated
in the evolution of the role of the Deregulation and Regulatory
Reform Committee;
-
assisted
the European Scrutiny Committee, particularly in its work
in the field of Justice and Home Affairs for example
in its reports on the European Arrest Warrant;
-
contributed
significantly to the management of litigation with which
the House was concerned, ensuring a co-ordinated approach
by House Departments and maintaining contacts with the Treasury
Solicitor; and
-
offered
general legal advice on issues including employment and
discrimination, procurement, data protection, freedom of
information and electoral law.
2.8
The Vote Office
The Vote Office has maintained the highest standard of service
to the House in the provision of documents. As a result of discussions
with the members of the Administration Committee, a display
of recently received documents has been introduced on the counter
of each issue office, which has been well received by Members
and other users.
The contract with
The Stationery Office has continued to operate satisfactorily
except that the end of year adjustment mechanism designed to
protect both the House and tSO from excessive variation in demand
failed to meet this objective in its original form and had to
be reviewed, as already described in the Board chapter (page
25). The arrangement, also revised to take into account the
sittings of the House in Westminster Hall, has worked well in
an election year, where expenditure, especially on legislative
papers and select committee publications, has been low. Total
cash expenditure of £9.74 million was therefore substantially
less than the £11 million required last year.
Whole House of
Commons Annual Spend on Publishing and Publication
The project to devise new production
methods for the Vote Bundle has realised its first year of saving
on printing expenditure as, since the House assembled after
the general election, EDM production up to final print and electronic
publication stage has been entirely achieved in-house. Work
has continued on the development of the Questions module to
be in place by November 2002.
The IT section has
continued to support the Department in achieving its goals and
objectives. In conjunction with the Office of the Parliamentary
Counsel and the House of Lords, further refinement of the software
for the production of bills and Acts of Parliament in the new
format has taken place and it has been used to produce all bills
introduced in this session of parliament. Work has been carried
out to assist the Committee Office with the production of material
in new file formats. The section has also been preparing departmental
systems for the introduction of Windows 2000 desktops and network
operating systems in the forthcoming year.
William McKay
CLERK OF THE
HOUSE
