OTHER AMENDMENTS TO STANDING ORDERS
13. We recommend the following amendments to
Standing Orders. They are all consequential on recent legislation.
14. First, following the passage of the Legislative
and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, Standing Order 41(6) should say,
"Any motion relating to a report from the Delegated
Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee on a draft order laid under
the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, or a subordinate
provisions order made or proposed to be made under the Regulatory
Reform Act 2001, shall be entered before a motion to approve that
draft
order."
15. Secondly, Standing Order 52(6) refers to
"any Affirmative Instrument which but for the provisions
of the Northern Ireland Act 2000 would have been enacted by a
Consolidation Bill, whether public or private, or by a Statute
Law Revision Bill". Since the Northern Ireland Act 2000 has
been repealed, this sub-paragraph should be deleted.
16. Finally, Standing Order 74 sets the remit
of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. The remit excludes
devolved Statutory Instruments (SIs) which are not laid at Westminster.
The original definition of a Scottish devolved SI was "any
SI made by a member of the Scottish Executive". This was
too narrow; it excluded SIs made by non-Ministers, eg the President
of the Court of Session. Therefore in July the House agreed to
substitute "any SI made by the Scottish Ministers or otherwise
under an Act or Act of the Scottish Parliament". We are now
advised that this is too broad; it catches some non-devolved SIs
which are not laid but are nonetheless subject to scrutiny by
the Joint Committee. The following amendment is therefore recommended:
"every general statutory instrument not within
the foregoing classes, and not required to be laid before or to
be subject to proceedings in the Commons only; but not including
any Scottish statutory instrument or any statutory instrument
made by the Scottish Ministers or
otherwise under an Act or Act of the Scottish Parliament or
by the Welsh Ministers unless it is required to be laid before
Parliament or either House of Parliament"