NINETEENTH REPORT
FROM
THE
JOINT
COMMITTEE
OF
BOTH
HOUSES
APPOINTED
TO
SCRUTINISE
STATUTORY
INSTRUMENTS,
ETC.[1]
ORDERED
TO
REPORT:
1. The Committee has considered
the instruments set out in the Annex to this Report and has determined
that the special attention of both Houses does not require to
be drawn to any of them.
2. A memorandum in connection
with the Supreme Court Fees (Amendment No. 2) Order (S.I. 2000/937),
the County Court Fees (Amendment No. 2) Order (S.I. 2000/939)
and the Family Proceedings Fees (Amendment No. 2) Order (S.I. 2000/938)
is printed in Appendix 1.
EDUCATION
(STUDENT
SUPPORT)
(EUROPEAN
INSTITUTIONS)
(AMENDMENT)
REGULATIONS
2000 (S.I. 2000/923)
3. The Committee draws the special
attention of both Houses to these regulations on the ground that
they are defectively drafted.
4. Regulation 3 of these regulations
purports, according to the Explanatory Note, to amend regulation
3 of the Education (Student Support) (European Institutions) Regulations
1999 to include an additional eligibility requirement, namely
that where a student has previously undertaken postgraduate study
of more than two years, an award will not be made in respect of
any of the three European institutions, except at the discretion
of the Secretary of State. The Committee asked the Department
for Education and Employment how this explanation was consistent
with the text of new sub-paragraph (e) of regulation 3(1) of the
1999 Regulations (as inserted by regulation 3). It seemed to the
Committee that the word "not" should have been inserted
between "has" and "held" in the first line
of the new sub-paragraph (e).
5. The Department concede, in
the memorandum printed in Appendix 2, that the intended effect
of the amendment has not been achieved and undertakes to make
amending regulations as soon as possible. The Committee accordingly
reports regulation 3(c) for defective drafting, acknowledged by
the Department.
INCOME-RELATED
BENEFITS
AND
JOBSEEKER'S
ALLOWANCE
(AMENDMENT)
REGULATIONS
2000 (S.I. 2000/979)
6. The Committee draws the special
attention of both Houses to these regulations for failure to include
necessary footnotes.
7. These Regulations amend the
definition of "person from abroad" in the Income Support
(General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967), the Jobseeker's
Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207), the Housing Benefit
(General) Regulations (S.I. 1987/1971) and the Council Tax
Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/1814). They
extend the categories of persons who are excluded from being treated
as not habitually resident in the United Kingdom to cover persons
who have been deported, expelled or otherwise removed by compulsion
of law from another country to the United Kingdom.
8. The Committee asked the Department
of Social Security to identify the instruments which inserted
sub-paragraph (e) in regulation 7A(4) of the 1987 regulations
and in regulation 4A(4) of the 1992 regulations and to explain
why these and any other relevant amending instruments were not
cited in footnotes (b) and (c) on page 2. In the memorandum printed
in Appendix 3, the Department explain that the regulations were
inserted by regulation 3(1)(a) and regulation 2(1)(a) (respectively)
of S.I. 1994/1807 and accept that a reference should have been
made in the footnotes in accordance with paragraph 2.47 of Statutory
Instrument Practice. The Department undertakes to make the
correction in the annual volume. The Committee reports the regulations
for failure to include the necessary footnotes, acknowledged by
the Department.
1 The Orders of Reference of the Committee are set
out in the First Report, Session 1999-2000 (HL Paper 4; HC 47-i). Back
| 
