Votes and Proceedings
Thursday 16 January 2020

No. 11

The House met at 9.30 am.

Prayers

1Questions to (1) the Minister of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

(2) the Attorney General

2Business Question (Leader of the House)

3Statement: Northern Ireland Executive formation (Secretary Julian Smith)

4Agriculture Bill: Presentation (Standing Order No. 57)

Secretary Theresa Villiers, supported by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary Stephen Barclay, Secretary Elizabeth Truss, Secretary Simon Hart, Secretary Julian Smith, George Eustice and Rishi Sunak, presented a Bill to authorise expenditure for certain agricultural and other purposes; to make provision about direct payments following the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union and about payments in response to exceptional market conditions affecting agricultural markets; to confer power to modify retained direct EU legislation relating to agricultural and rural development payments and public market intervention and private storage aid; to make provision about reports on food security; to make provision about the acquisition and use of information connected with food supply chains; to confer powers to make regulations about the imposition of obligations on business purchasers of agricultural products, marketing standards, organic products and the classification of carcasses; to make provision for the recognition of associations of agricultural producers which may benefit from certain exemptions from competition law; to make provision about fertilisers; to make provision about the identification and traceability of animals; to make provision about red meat levy in Great Britain; to make provision about agricultural tenancies; to confer power to make regulations about securing compliance with the WTO Agreement on Agriculture; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the first time; to be read a second time tomorrow, and to be printed (Bill 7) with Explanatory Notes (Bill 7–EN).

5Queen’s Speech (Motion for an Address) (penultimate day)

Debate resumed (Order, 15 January).

Question again proposed, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, as follows: Most Gracious Sovereign, We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.

Subject: Health and social care

Amendment proposed, at end of the Question to add ‘but respectfully regrets that the Gracious Speech fails to ensure that the National Health Service and social care will be properly funded; and calls for the Government to bring forward a plan and additional funding to end the crisis in social care and provide for at least a 4 per cent per year real terms increase in health spending.’.—(Jonathan Ashworth.)

Question proposed, That the Amendment be made.

The Deputy Speaker announced a time limit on backbench speeches (Standing Order No. 47(1)).

Question put.

The House divided.

Division No. 15

Ayes: 222 (Tellers: Jeff Smith, Jessica Morden)

Noes: 313 (Tellers: Iain Stewart, Nigel Huddleston)

Question accordingly negatived.

Since it was after 5.00 pm, the debate stood adjourned (Standing Order No. 9(3)).

Debate to be resumed on Monday 20 January.

6Select Committee chairs (term limits)

Motion made, That, for the remainder of the present Parliament, the provisions of Standing Order No. 122A (Term limits for chairs of select committees) shall not have effect.—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

Objection taken (Standing Order No. 9(6)).

7Business of the House (Private Members' Bills)

Resolved, That Private Members’ Bills shall have precedence over Government business on 13 March 2020, 27 March 2020, 24 April 2020, 15 May 2020, 12 June 2020, 26 June 2020, 10 July 2020, 11 September 2020, 16 October 2020, 30 October 2020, 27 November 2020, 15 January 2021 and 29 January 2021.—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

8Proxy voting (duration of pilot)

Resolved, That the Resolution of 28 January 2019 (Proxy Voting (Implementation)) shall apply as if, for the words “12 months” in paragraphs (4) and (6), there were substituted “18 months”.—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

9Adjournment (February, Easter, May Day, Whitsun, Summer and Conference Recess)

Motion made and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 25), That this House, at its rising on Thursday 13 February 2020, do adjourn until Monday 24 February 2020; at its rising on Tuesday 31 March 2020, do adjourn until Tuesday 21 April 2020; at its rising on Wednesday 6 May 2020, do adjourn until Monday 11 May 2020; at its rising on Thursday 21 May 2020, do adjourn until Tuesday 2 June 2020; at its rising on Tuesday 21 July 2020, do adjourn until Tuesday 8 September 2020; and at its rising on Thursday 17 September 2020, do adjourn until Tuesday 13 October 2020.—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

Question agreed to.

10Standing Orders etc. (Committee on Exiting the European Union)

Ordered, That the following temporary Standing Order and consequent modifications to Standing Orders and resolutions of the House shall have effect for twelve months from the date of this Order:

A: Committee on Exiting the European Union (Temporary Standing Order)

(1) There shall be a select committee, to be called the Committee on Exiting the European Union, to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Exiting the European Union and related matters falling within the responsibilities of associated public bodies.

(2) The committee shall consist of no more than twenty-one Members; and the provisions of Standing Order No. 121(2) shall apply to motions for the nomination and discharge of Members to and from the committee as if it were a committee not established under a temporary Standing Order.

(3) Unless the House otherwise orders, each Member nominated to the committee shall continue to be a member of it for as long as this Order has effect.

(4) The committee shall have the power to appoint a sub-committee.

(5) The committee and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have the assistance of the Counsel to the Speaker.

(6) The committee and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have power to appoint legal advisers and specialist advisers either to supply information which is not readily available or to elucidate matters of complexity within the committee’s order of reference.

(7) The committee and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have power to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House, to adjourn from place to place and to report from time to time the evidence taken before them.

(8) The quorum of the committee shall be six and the quorum of any sub-committee appointed by it shall be three.

(9) The committee shall have power to report from time to time, and any sub-committee appointed by it shall have power to report to the committee from time to time.

B: Election of Select Committee Chairs

(10) Standing Order No. 122B (Election of select committee chairs) is amended in paragraph (1), by inserting, in the appropriate place, "the Committee on Exiting the European Union".

C: European Committees

(11) Standing Order No. 119 (European Committees) is amended as follows:

(a) in paragraph (4) by inserting after “departments)” the words “, or the Committee on Exiting the European Union”; and

(b) in the Table in paragraph (7), in respect of European Committee B, by inserting, in the appropriate place, “Exiting the European Union”.

D: European Scrutiny Committee

(12) Paragraph (12) of Standing Order No. 143 (European Scrutiny Committee) is amended by inserting, in the appropriate place, “the Committee on Exiting the European Union”.

E: Public Bodies: Draft Orders

(13) Standing Order No. 152K (Public bodies: draft orders) is amended as follows:

(a) after sub-paragraph (b) to paragraph (1) to insert: “(c) in respect of a draft order laid by a Minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, the Committee on Exiting the European Union”; and

(b) in paragraph (2) by inserting after “departments)” the words “, or the Committee on Exiting the European Union”.

F: Positions for which additional salaries are payable for the purposes of section 4A(2) of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009

(14) The resolution of the House of 19 March 2013 (Positions for which additional salaries are payable for the purposes of section 4A(2) of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009) is amended, in paragraph (1)(a), by inserting, in the appropriate place, “the Committee on Exiting the European Union”.—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

11Select Committees (Allocation of Chairs)

Ordered, That, pursuant to Standing Order No 122B (Election of Committee chairs), the chairs of those select committees subject to the Standing Order be allocated as indicated in the following Table:

Select committees appointed under Standing Order No. 152:

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy	Labour
Defence	Conservative
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport	Conservative
Education	Conservative
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Conservative
Foreign Affairs	Conservative
Health and Social Care	Conservative
Home Affairs	Labour
Housing, Communities and Local Government	Labour
International Development	Labour
International Trade	Scottish National Party
Justice	Conservative
Northern Ireland Affairs	Conservative
Science and Technology	Conservative
Scottish Affairs	Scottish National Party
Transport	Conservative
Treasury	Conservative
Welsh Affairs	Conservative
Women and Equalities	Conservative
Work and Pensions	Labour

Other specified select committees:

Environmental Audit	Conservative
Exiting the European Union	Labour
Petitions	Labour
Procedure	Conservative
Public Accounts	Labour
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs	Conservative
Standards	Labour

—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

12Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Speaker's Committee)

Ordered, That Marion Fellows, Dame Cheryl Gillan, Sir Desmond Swayne, Valerie Vaz and Sir Charles Walker be appointed to the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority until the end of the present Parliament, in pursuance of paragraph 1(d) of Schedule 3 to the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, as amended.—(Mr Marcus Jones.)

13Adjournment

Subject: Protection for new home buyers (Kate Green)

Resolved, That this House do now adjourn.—(Mr Marcus Jones.) 

Adjourned at 5.48 pm until Monday 20 January.

Other Proceedings

General Committees: Appointments

The Speaker appoints the Chair of General Committees and members of Programming Sub-Committees, and allocates Statutory Instruments to Delegated Legislation Committees.

The Committee of Selection nominates Members to serve on General Committees (and certain Members to serve on Grand Committees).

14Panel of Chairs (Parliament Act 1911)

Sir Roger Gale and Mr Clive Betts to be the two Members whom the Speaker shall consult, if practicable, before certifying a Bill to be a Money Bill.

15Panel of Chairs (Standing Orders No. 83J(8)(a), 83P(4) and 83U(6))

Sir Roger Gale and Mr Clive Betts to be the two Members whom the Speaker may consult under Standing Orders Nos. 83J(8)(a), 83P(4) and 83U(6) in deciding whether to certify, in relation to territorial application and devolved legislative competence, (a) a bill, clause of schedule, under Standing Order No. 83J, (b) an instrument, under Standing Order No. 83P and (c) a motion upon which a Finance Bill is to be brought in, under Standing Order No. 83U.

Reports from Select Committees

16Selection (Committee of)

Bill Wiggin reported,

(1) That he had been chosen as Chair of the Committee; and

(2) the following Resolutions:

(i) That, after a Bill has been under consideration in a Public Bill Committee, no application for changes in the composition of that Committee in respect of that Bill will be entertained by this Committee except where a Member is incapacitated from attendance by illness, or where he or she has been appointed or ceased to be a Member of the Government or Opposition frontbench, or has changed his or her office for another, or has acquired other duties, or ceased to hold or changed such duties;

(ii) That Motions to alter the membership of select committees may be tabled on behalf of the Committee of Selection only if previously approved at a meeting of the Committee of Selection;

(iii) That if no replacement is identified for a Member wishing to resign from a select committee within six weeks of the receipt by the Chair of the Committee of Selection of a letter from the Member, the Committee shall table a motion to discharge the resigning Member, and shall table a motion to appoint a replacement once he or she has been elected by the political parties concerned;

(iv) That, when nominating Members to the European Committee, the Committee of Selection will, where practicable, include at least two Members from the European Scrutiny Committee and the relevant Select Committee.

Lindsay Hoyle

Speaker

Papers Laid

Papers subject to Affirmative Resolution

1Senior Courts of England and Wales

Draft Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Robert Buckland)

2Social Security

Draft Employment Allowance (Excluded Persons) Regulations 2020 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Jesse Norman)

3Social Security

Draft Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Justin Tomlinson)

4Social Security

Draft Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Justin Tomlinson)

Papers subject to Negative Resolution

5Energy

Draft Modifications to the Smart Energy Code and the Smart Meter Communication Licences (Smart Meters No.1 of 2020) (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Andrea Leadsom)

6Land

Homes and Communities Agency (Transfer of Property etc.) Regulations 2020 (SI, 2020, No. 31), dated 14 January 2020 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Esther McVey)

7Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

Statute, dated 4 October 2019, made by the Governing Body of Newnham College in the University of Cambridge, revising the existing Statutes of the College (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Gavin Williamson)

Other papers

8National Health

Report and Accounts of the NHS Counter Fraud Authority for 2018–19, with the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (by Statutory Instrument), to be printed (HC 15) (Ms Nadine Dorries)

9Reserve Forces

Reserve Land Forces Regulations 2016 Amendment No. 4 (by Act) (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)

10Treaty Series No.1 (2020)

Protocol, done at London on 9 October 2017, between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ukraine to amend the Convention between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital Gains (by Command) (CP 208) (Secretary Dominic Raab)