3 The Committees' Report of 2010-11
(HC 686)
The Committees' Report and the
Government's Response (Cm 8079)
11. Government
Departments agreed in 1978, following recommendations by the Select
Committee on Procedure, that replies should, if possible, be made
within two months of the publication of a Report.[13]
This principle was re-affirmed by the then Government in
its response to the First Report of the Liaison Committee in the
1999-2000 Session: "The Government agree that Departments
should respond [to Select Committee Reports] within two months,
if possible and, if not, that they should warn Committees if delays
are likely, and explain the reason for delay."[14]
A longer delay may be considered permissible in some circumstances
when those circumstances have been explained to the Committee
concerned.[15]
12. We published
our Report of last year on 5 April 2011. The Government's Response
in Command Paper Cm 8079 was published on 7 July, three months
rather the two months after the Committees had reported.
13. The Chairman
of the CAEC wrote to the Foreign Secretary on 18 July 2011 putting
to him a series of questions from the Committees arising from
the Government's Response and requesting the answers no later
than 30 September.[16]
The Foreign Secretary provided the Government's answers with his
letter to the Chairman of 30 September.[17]
The letters containing the Committees' questions and the Government's
answers, which include information of interest to Parliament and
the wider public are produced in full in the evidence to the this
inquiry.[18]
14. The Government's
response to each of the Committees' recommendations on "Brass
Plate" companies, the Pre-licence registration of arms brokers
and Extra-territorial arms export controls was: "We are giving
careful consideration to the CAEC recommendations in the light
of recent events and will revert later this year." In the
Chairman's letter to the Foreign Secretary of 18 July the Committees
asked when the Government would "revert" to the Committees
on these three recommendations.[19]
The Foreign Secretary in his reply of 30 September stated
in respect of each of the three recommendations where the Government
had said that it would "revert" back to the Committees,
that; "The Government (the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills) will update the Committees regarding developments
on these issues before the Committee start taking further evidence."[20]
In the event, no response was received to these three recommendations
before the Committees took further oral evidence on 23 January
2012 and a response was produced only just before the Committees
took evidence from both Secretaries of State on 7 February 2012,
some ten months after the recommendations had been made.
15. We conclude
that the Government's responses to the Committees have been uneven—varying
from timely, to somewhat delayed, to unacceptably delayed. We
recommend the Government reviews its internal organisation and
procedures for responding to the CAEC so as to ensure that the
Committees always receive timely and substantive responses to
their recommendations and questions.
13 Select Committee on Procedure, First Report of Session
1977-78, HC 588-I, pp lxxii - lxxiv Back
14
President of the Council and Leader of the House, The Government's
Response to the First Report from the Liaison Committees on Shifting
the Balance: Select Committees and the Executive, Cm 4737, May
2000, p 7 Back
15
Erskine May, 24th edition (London 2011), p 837 Back
16
Ev 63 - Letter to the Foreign Secretary dated 18 July 2011 Back
17
Ev 67 - Letter from the Foreign Secretary dated 30 September 2011 Back
18
EV 63 and Ev 67 Back
19
Ev 63 - Letter to the Foreign Secretary dated 18 July 2011 Back
20
Ev 67 - Letter from the Foreign Secretary dated 30 September 2011 Back
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