Asked by: Lord Boswell of Aynho (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government, for each government department, from July to December 2017, on how many occasions the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution was overridden in (1) the House of Lords, and (2) the House of Commons; and in respect of how many documents an override occurred in (a) both Houses, (b) the House of Lords, and (c) the House of Commons.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Between July and December 2017, 508 EU proposals and other documents were submitted for scrutiny.
Across both Houses there were 95 occasions when the Government supported decisions in the EU Council of Ministers before the scrutiny procedures had been completed by either one or both Scrutiny Committees.
In each case the Government explained to the Scrutiny Committees why it was important for the proposal to be supported before clearance had been provided. This period of reporting coincided with the extended period in the new Parliament before the European Scrutiny Committee in the House of Commons was re-appointed on 30 October 2017 and only began meeting again on 13 November to scrutinise documents. As with previous six-monthly periods, the largest category of instrument was fast-moving and sensitive CFSP and EU restrictive measures where there were 66 such instruments adopted before scrutiny could be completed.
The figures requested are set out below:
Department | (1 & b). House of Lords override | (2 & c). House of Commons override | (a). No. of overrides in both Houses at the same time | Total no. of overrides |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 3 | 7 | 3 | 7 |
Defence | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 4 | 8 | 4 | 8 |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office | 52 | 70 | 51 | 71 |
International Development | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
International Trade | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
HM Revenue and Customs | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
HM Treasury | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Work and Pensions | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Totals | 63 | 94 | 62 | 95 |
Asked by: Lord Boswell of Aynho (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each Government department, from July to December 2016, on how many occasions a scrutiny reserve resolution in (1) the House of Lords, and (2) the House of Commons, was overridden; and in respect of how many documents an override occurred in (a) both Houses, or (b) either House.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Between July and December 2016, 557 Explanatory Memoranda on EU documents were submitted for scrutiny.
Across both Houses there were 33 occasions when the Government supported decisions in the EU Council of Ministers before the scrutiny procedures had been completed by either one or both Scrutiny Committees.
In each case the Government explained to the Scrutiny Committees why it was important for the proposal to be supported before clearance had been provided. As with previous six-monthly periods, the largest category of instrument were fast-moving and sensitive EU restrictive measures where there were 22 such instruments (67% of the total number) adopted before scrutiny could be completed.
The figures requested are set out below:
Department | (1). House of Lords Override | (2). House of Commons override | (1). No. of overrides in both Houses | (2). Total no. of overrides |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Culture, Media and Sport | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office* | 22 | 26* | 22 | 26 |
HM Treasury** | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
International Trade | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Totals | 25 | 33 | 25 | 33 |
* In addition to the formal overrides listed here, there were 40 occasions when Council Decisions were adopted prior to scrutiny by the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee due to their limite marking (ie internal EU limited distribution marking for content not intended to be in the public domain).
** An override on the Proposal for a Council Directive laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the internal market, was identified to have occurred at the 27 June 2016 ECOFIN, after the answer had been published for the override figures for January-June 2016 (HL 1405).