Committee welcomes Government undertaking on scrutiny of Statutory Instruments

The Procedure Committee has this afternoon received assurances from the Government that it will make a Written Ministerial Statement when it disagrees with the recommendations of the legislative scrutiny committees examining Brexit.

The DExEU Minister, Chris Heaton-Harris was responding to concerns raised by the Committee about how the Government would operate the new system to sift and scrutinise delegated legislation readying the statute book for EU exit.

The Minister confirmed to the Committee that in every case where the Government disagrees with a recommendation made by the European Statutory Instruments Committee (ESIC) in the Commons, or the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) in the Lords, a Minister will make a Written Ministerial Statement in the appropriate House before proceeding to legislate.

The Government had previously planned to provide this information to Parliament as part of explanatory memoranda accompanying the legislation. The Committee felt that this fell well short of what Ministers had offered during the passage of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act.

Chairman of the Committee, Charles Walker OBE MP, said: “I welcome the Minister’s commitment given today. It confirms to the Committee and members of both Houses that the assurances given from the Government Despatch Boxes during the passage of the Act will be met in full. The Procedure Committee takes its duty to Parliament seriously and will continue to ensure that the wishes of Parliament are respected.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• The letter from Chris Heaton-Harris MP to Charles Walker OBE MP (8 October 2018) is available here.
• The letter from Charles Walker OBE MP to Chris Heaton-Harris MP, raising the Committee’s concerns over the Government’s approach, is available here.