Asked by: Lord Jay of Ewelme (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the terms on which they provided copies of the 39 Brexit sectoral analyses to the governments of Scotland and Wales allow those governments to share the analyses with relevant committees of the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly of Wales.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have provided sectoral information to Parliament as required by the motion passed by the House of Commons on 1 November.
As we made clear in our written ministerial statement on 28 November, the same information was shared with the devolved administrations. The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU has written to the devolved administrations to explain that under the Osmotherly Rules the reports are now the property of the Committees.
Asked by: Lord Jay of Ewelme (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide copies of the 39 Brexit sectoral analyses, which were provided to the European Union Committee on 27 November, to relevant committees of the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have provided sectoral information to Parliament as required by the motion passed by the House of Commons on 1 November.
As we made clear in our written ministerial statement on 28 November, the same information was shared with the devolved administrations. The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU has written to the devolved administrations to explain that under the Osmotherly Rules the reports are now the property of the Committees.
Asked by: Lord Jay of Ewelme (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
Her Majesty's Government, for each government department, from January to June, 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 Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Between January and June 2017, 476 EU proposals and other documents were submitted for scrutiny.
Across both Houses there were 66 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 dissolution of Parliament where between the prorogation of Parliament between 27 April and 30 June there was no opportunity for scrutiny by the Commons European Scrutiny Committee and the Committee has yet to be reappointed in the new Parliament. However, Lord Boswell of Aynho was reappointed as Chair of the Lords European Union Committee on 21 June and began considering EU documents and EMs submitted to the Committee on 27 June. As with previous six-monthly periods, the largest category of instrument was fast-moving and sensitive CFSP and EU restrictive measures where there were 29 such instruments adopted before scrutiny could be completed. There was also a package of 27 measures on which HM Treasury submitted EMs on the 2017 National Reform Programmes of Member States other than Greece, which were endorsed by Heads of Government at the June European Council without the opportunity for clearance by either Scrutiny Committee.
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 | Total no. of overrides |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Culture, Media and Sport | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Communities and Local Government | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office* | 24 | 31 | 24 | 31 |
HM Treasury | 27 | 30 | 27 | 30 |
Home Office | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Totals | 55 | 66 | 55 | 66 |
* In addition to the formal overrides listed here, there were 20 occasions when Council Decisions were adopted prior to scrutiny by the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee due to their limité marking (ie. internal EU limited distribution marking for content not intended to be in the public domain).