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Procedural Consequences of Devolution, Which Is Due to Be Debated by the House on 21 October

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Procedural Consequences of Devolution, Which Is Due to Be Debated by the House on 21 October RESEARCH PAPER 99/85 The Procedural 20 OCTOBER 1999 Consequences of Devolution On 1 July 1999, extensive powers were transferred to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales. Research Paper 99/84, Devolution and Concordats, discusses the devolved powers, the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the administrations of Scotland, Wales and the UK, and the implications for the executive branch of government. This paper concentrates on the consequences of devolution in Scotland and Wales for the House of Commons. In particular, it discusses the May 1999 report of the Commons Procedure Committee, The Procedural Consequences of Devolution, which is due to be debated by the House on 21 October. The Committee made a number of recommendations for immediate action, on areas such as parliamentary questions, legislation and select committees. The paper also covers the Government’s proposal for the revival of the Regional Standing Committee; the implications for Parliament of the Memorandum of Understanding; the so-called “English Question”; the likely effects of devolution on Members’ constituency role; and proposals that a reformed House of Lords should have a special role in the post-devolution political landscape. Edward Wood PARLIAMENT AND CONSTITUTION CENTRE HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY Recent Library Research Papers include: List of 15 most recent RPs 99/70 The August Solar Eclipse 30.06.99 99/71 Unemployment by Constituency - June 1999 14.07.99 99/72 Railways Bill [Bill 133 of 1998-99] 15.07.99 99/73 The National Lottery 27.07.99 99/74 Duty-free shopping 22.07.99 99/75 Economic & Monetary Union: the first six months 12.08.99 99/76 Unemployment by Constituency - July 1999 11.08.99 99/77 British Farming and Reform of the Common Agriculture Policy 13.08.99 99/78 By-elections since the 1997 general election 09.09.99 99/79 Unemployment by constituency – August 1999 14.09.99 99/80 Railway Organisations 20.09.99 99/81 Asbestos 05.10.99 99/82 By-elections since the 1997 general election 24.09.99 99/83 Unemployment by constituency – September 1999 13.10.99 99/84 Devolution and Concordats 19.10.99 Research Papers are available as PDF files: • to members of the general public on the Parliamentary web site, URL: http://www.parliament.uk • within Parliament to users of the Parliamentary Intranet, URL: http://hcl1.hclibrary.parliament.uk Library Research Papers are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of these papers with Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public. Users of the printed version of these papers will find a pre-addressed response form at the end of the text. ISSN 1368-8456 Summary of main points On 1 July 1999, extensive powers were transferred to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales (hereafter Welsh Assembly). Research Paper 99/84, Devolution and Concordats, describes the devolved powers and the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the administrations of Scotland, Wales and the UK, and examines the implications for the executive branch of government. This paper concentrates on the consequences of devolution in Scotland and Wales for the House of Commons.1 Part I describes briefly the current arrangements for dealing with Scottish and Welsh business in the Commons. Part II discusses the May 1999 report of the Commons Procedure Committee, The Procedural Consequences of Devolution, which is due to be debated by the House on 21 October. The Committee, which intends to carry out a full review of the procedural consequences of devolution in due course, made a number of recommendations for immediate action, including: • After devolution, the range and details of questions to be put to the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales should be reduced to matters relating to their new Ministerial responsibilities. Guidance should be provided to Ministers about the matters the House will expect them to deal with. Scottish Questions should be reduced to thirty minutes duration. • There should continue to be Select Committees relating to Scotland and Wales. • The House should not legislate on devolved matters without the consent of the legislature concerned. • Bills relating exclusively to England, Scotland or Wales should usually be considered by an appropriately constituted Second Reading Committee. The Committee stage of such bills should be heard by Standing Committees containing at least sixteen Members from the area concerned. Some of the Procedure Committee’s recommendations are considered in detail in this Paper, including the experience of the House to date with post-devolution Scottish and Welsh questions (part II(B)). A previous Procedure Committee recommendation, that the Grand Committees be suspended for the period of the experiment with parallel sittings in Westminster Hall, and the Government’s proposal for the revival of the Regional Standing Committee for an experimental period, are also described (part II(D)). The Government’s response to the Procedure Committee’s report is covered in part II(E) of the paper. Part III deals with the implications for Parliament of the Memorandum of Understanding. The so- called “English Question”, the implications for England of devolution in other parts of the UK, is discussed in Part IV. Finally, the Paper considers in Part IV the likely effects of devolution on Members’ constituency role and notes briefly suggestions that a reformed House of Lords should have a special role in the post-devolution political landscape (Part V). 1 Devolution in Northern Ireland is not considered here as implementation of the Belfast Agreement has not yet taken place CONTENTS I Pre-Devolution Arrangements in the House of Commons 7 II Post-Devolution Arrangements: The Procedure Committee report of May 1999 8 A. Introduction 8 B. Questions and Debate 13 C. Legislation 21 D. Committees 24 1. Select Committees 24 2. The Grand Committees 24 3. The Regional Standing Committee 27 4. Standing Committees 29 E. The Government’s Response to the Procedure Committee Report 30 III The Memorandum of Understanding 31 IV The “English Question” 33 V Members’ Constituency Role 39 A. Introduction 39 B. Dual Mandates 42 C. Representational Issues 43 VI Devolution and a Reformed Second Chamber 43 RESEARCH PAPER 99/85 I Pre-Devolution Arrangements in the House of Commons At present, Scottish and Welsh parliamentary business in the House of Commons is still, broadly speaking, dealt with as follows: • Scottish Questions and Welsh Questions: questions to the Scottish and Welsh Secretaries and other Scottish and Welsh Office ministers, every four weeks • Scottish Affairs Committee and Welsh Affairs Committee: select committees of 11 MPs (not necessarily from Scottish and Welsh constituencies) which examine the policy and administration of the Scottish and Welsh Offices respectively • Scottish Grand Committee: committee of all 72 Scottish MPs dealing with a range of Scottish business • Welsh Grand Committee: committee of all 40 Welsh MPs, together with not more than five other Members chosen by the Committee of Selection, dealing with a range of Welsh business • Scottish standing committees: Two committees of between 16 and 50 MPs (with no fewer than 16 representing Scottish constituencies) to undertake the line-by-line scrutiny at committee stage of some exclusively Scottish legislation The matters which may be dealt with by the Grand Committees are as follows: • questions for oral answer • short debates • ministerial statements • second reading, report and third reading stages of Bills relating exclusively to Scotland • motions relating to delegated legislation • substantive motions for the adjournment In recent years the Grand Committees have regularly sat outside Westminster. These arrangements are in addition to general Parliamentary business, from questions and debates to legislation and petitions, which may relate to Scotland and Wales as well as to some or all other parts of the UK. 7 RESEARCH PAPER 99/85 II Post-Devolution Arrangements: The Procedure Committee report of May 1999 A. Introduction The Procedure Committee announced its inquiry into the procedural consequences of devolution in a Press Notice dated 30 July 1998.2 Its intention was not to reopen the constitutional and political arguments about devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but “to ensure that the House has considered what changes are necessary in consequence of the legislation that it has itself passed.” The committee stated that The first issue to be addressed is whether it is possible to lay down clear principles as to the House's relationship with the new bodies, even if only in outline, or whether changes should be evolutionary and limited to particular responses to particular problems. If it is possible to determine clear principles, should the United Kingdom exercise a "self denying ordinance" on matters within the competence of the Scottish Parliament …. and if so, what should it cover, and how should it be policed? In particular the committee wished to examine the following issues: • Would it be appropriate to provide for consultation between Members of the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh or Northern Ireland Assembly and the United Kingdom Parliament? What should be the nature of any such consultation or joint operations? At what stage should formal provision for such consultation be made in the Standing Orders? • Should the United Kingdom Parliament co-operate with the Northern
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