36TH REPORT: ANNUAL REPORT 2007
Letter from Jim Murphy MP, Minister for
Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Chairman
Thank you for sending me a copy of your Committee's
2007 Annual Report.
The Government continues to welcome the vital
contribution the Committee makes on European issues as can be
evidenced from the breadth and range of activity recorded in the
report. It is also helpful to note the issues the Committee will
report on in the coming months.
Your report highlighted a number of procedural
issues on which a Government comment may be helpful. The report
has been copied widely within Government to draw these points
to Departments' attention. I attach a short note covering these
points.
17 January 2008
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
SCRUTINY OVERRIDES
We remind the Government that documents and
Explanatory Memoranda must be deposited with sufficient time for
scrutiny, and that the Committee must be kept informed about the
progress of negotiations in Brussels, including when overrides
have occurred. We recognise that negotiations sometimes move unexpectedly
fast, especially in the fields of foreign relations and defence.
In such circumstances it is important that the Committee receives
as much information as possible, including where possible prior
warning, and always including full explanation after the fact.
We urge the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to continue its ongoing
and welcome efforts in this regard, and encourage the Government
to make sure that best practice is the norm. (Paragraph 123)
The Government welcomes the Committee's
acknowledgement of the generally downward trend in the number
of overrides since six-monthly reports were first provided to
the Committee in 2003. But there is no room for complacency and
the Government will continue to look for ways to keep the figures
low, including working with the Committee's staff to review particular
cases where lessons can be leamed. Cabinet Office officials met
with the Clerk recently and agreed new procedures for working
with the Committee when compiling the twice-yearly reports, where
on the last occasion the Committee noted that the figures held
by the Committee differed slightly from those recorded by the
Government. The Cabinet Office, when sending the Committee's Annual
Report to all departmental scrutiny co-ordinators, drew particular
attention to your comments on overrides and reminded departments
of good practice to follow.
GENERAL APPROACHES
We reiterate that we consider the reaching of
General Approaches in Council negotiations as "agreement",
and that the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution applies to such cases—in
other words, if a Minister agrees to a General Approach in Council
before scrutiny has been completed, a scrutiny override is committed.
Following the report by the Commons European Scrutiny Committee
in which that Committee took the same line, we encourage the Government
to review its position and to consider General Approaches as covered
by the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution. (Paragraph 127)
The Government has noted that the Committee
has reaffirmed its position that the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution
should be interpreted to include the stage of General Approach.
The Government is reviewing its stance on this issue, including
in the context of the report from the House of Commons European
Scrutiny Committee on this issue to which the Committee refers.
We expect to be in a position to respond to that report in early
2008.
DELAYS TO
THE COMMITTEE'S
SCRUTINY
In the Committee's Report "Review of Scrutiny
of European Legislation" (2002), the Committee stated: "We
will expect responses from Ministers within 10 working days to
letters sent by our chairman on behalf of the Committee and Sub-Committees".
We remind the Government that they stated in their Response: "The
Government agrees that it is unacceptable for letters to go unanswered
for long periods. We shall strive to respond to letters from the
Chairman within 10 working days." (Paragraph 128).
" . . .we remind the Government of their
undertaking that in cases of "responding to complex matters
[the Government] shall send a holding reply." (Paragraph
131)
The Cabinet Office has again reminded departments
of the Government's commitments when circulating the Committee's
Annual Report to departmental scrutiny coordinators. Cabinet Office
officials will continue to work with the Committee's staff and
departmental scrutiny coordinators to ensure that the Government's
commitments are being met. We have also noted that some improvements
have been made to the Committee's "Progress of Scrutiny"
document to help monitor outstanding business including setting
out more clearly which Minister the Chairman has written to, what
further information the Committee has asked for, and to also record
those occasions where the Committee has cleared a document but
where they have nevertheless asked for further information.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
ANALYSIS IN
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDA
In the spring and summer of 2007, the Committee
and the Government reached an agreement according to which the
Government will provide an analysis of the compliance with fundamental
rights of every draft legislative proposal submitted for scrutiny,
in the Explanatory Memorandum (EM) accompanying the proposal.
Guidance agreed between the Committee's staff and the Government
has now been circulated to the relevant Government officials.
The Committee is grateful to the Government for agreeing to this
helpful move. We will review the procedure after some experience
of the new mechanism. We welcome the Government's undertaking
to ensure that EMs will continue to be deposited within 10 working
days of the deposit of the proposals themselves, with fundamental
rights analysis to follow if necessary, and we ask that the Government
ensure that this standard is maintained. (Paragraph 136).
This new approach is still settling in
and we hope that the information being provided in EMs is meeting
the Committee's needs. The Government is ready to work with the
Committee when it comes to review the new procedure in due course.
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