Process for agreeing amendments in select
committee
14. If select committee amendments are to have priority,
then the process for agreeing them within a committee has to be
clear and rigorous. The then Deputy Leader of the House suggested
that "an amendment should be tabled on behalf of a committee
only where the committee is unanimously agreed on the amendment.
If amendments were tabled in the name of the committee on a majority
vote, it could give rise to the impression that individual members
of the committee who had in fact opposed the amendment were in
favour of it."[14]
On the other hand, the Chairman of the Liaison Committee argued
that there are no other proceedings for which a unanimous, rather
than a majority, decision was required in select committees and
he was against introducing it here.[15]
15. We accept that there is force in both arguments.
On balance, we consider that if priority is to be given to these
amendments, then a special procedure may be justified and a high
hurdle may be set before such amendments can be tabled. We are
also aware of the procedure in the Regulatory Reform Committee
where a distinction is made between resolutions reached with and
those reached without division. We therefore suggest that, in
order for an amendment to be given the special status of a select
committee amendment, it must have been formally agreed without
division by a quorate meeting of the committee. If a particular
amendment does not pass this test, then it remains open to the
committee to table it in the names of those Members who do support
it. In both cases, the decision will be recorded in the formal
minutes of the committee.
16. Special arrangements would have to apply to joint
committees. We believe that in these circumstances the criteria
will have been met when the Commons members present at a quorate
meeting agree to table such an amendment.
17. There is a further practical consideration in
that an amendment tabled in the expectation of receiving special
treatment should be orderly. We would expect all committees to
have taken such advice as necessary to ensure that this is the
case before formally agreeing the wording of amendments.
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