The Committee consists of 11 Members. It has a quorum of three. Unless the House otherwise orders, all Members nominated to the Committee continue to be members of it for the remainder of the Parliament.

The Committee has power:


(a)  to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House, to adjourn from place to place, and to report from time to time;


(b)  to appoint specialist advisers either to supply information which is not readily available or to elucidate matters of complexity within the Committee's order of reference;


(c)  to communicate to any other committee appointed under the same Standing Order (or to the Committee of Public Accounts, the Deregulation Committee, the Environmental Audit Committee and the European Scrutiny Committee) its evidence and any other documents relating to matters of common interest; and


(d)  to meet concurrently with any other such committee appointed under Standing Order No. 152 for the purposes of deliberating, taking evidence, or considering draft reports, or with the European Scrutiny Committee or any sub-committee thereof for the purposes of deliberating or taking evidence.

The Committee was nominated on 14 July 1997.

The following were members of the Committee during the inquiry: