Draft report on the Work of the Committee 2009

Draft Report (Work of the Committee 2009), proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.

Ordered, that the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1 to 6 read and agreed to.

Paragraph 7 read, amended and agreed to.

Paragraphs 8 to 11 read and agreed to.

Paragraph 12 read, amended and agreed to.

Paragraph 13 read and agreed to.

Paragraphs 14 to 17 read, amended and agreed to.

A paragraph- (Greg Hands) - brought up, read the first and second time and inserted.

Paragraphs 18 to 25 (now paragraphs 19 to 26) read and agreed to.

Paragraph 26 (now paragraph 27) read as follows:

"The Government provides us with six-monthly breakdowns of departmental overrides of documents which are still under scrutiny. The period from July to December 2008 saw 23 overrides — a deterioration from the 12 recorded during the corresponding period of the previous year. We are glad to note that this appears to have represented an intermission, rather than a conclusion, to the two years of improvement we had seen up till this point, as the recently provided statistics for January to June 2009 show the number of overrides in single figures. Tables of these overrides, showing the Department responsible and a brief description of the document concerned, can be found in Appendix 1 to this report. The Committee takes breaches of the House's scrutiny reserve resolution very seriously. We will continue to monitor the incidence of overrides and will invite Ministers to oral evidence sessions to explain the reasons for overrides in those cases where we do not consider that a sufficient justification has been provided."

Amendment proposed in line 2, to leave out from "scrutiny" to second "to" in line 11 and insert: "The period from July to December 2008 saw 23 overrides — a deterioration from the 12 recorded during the corresponding period of the previous year. We are glad to note that this appears to have represented an intermission, rather than a conclusion, to the two years of improvement we had seen up till this point, as the recently published statistics for January to June 2009 show the number of overrides in single figures. Tables of these overrides, showing the department responsible and a brief description of the document concerned, can be found in the Appendix to this report. We take breaches of the House's scrutiny reserve resolution very seriously. We will continue to monitor the incidence of overrides and will invite Ministers to oral evidence sessions". - (The Chairman.)

Question put, that the Amendment be made.

The Committee divided:

Ayes, 6	Noes, 1
Mr Adrian Bailey Mr David S. Borrow Jim Dobbin Keith Hill Kelvin Hopkins Angus Robertson	Mr Greg Hands

Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.

Paragraphs 27 to 48 (now paragraphs 28 to 49) read and agreed to.

Annexes agreed to.

A Paper was appended to the report as Appendix 1.

Resolved, That the Report, as amended, be the Sixth Report of the Committee to the House.

Ordered, That the Chairman make the Report to the House.

[Adjourned till Wednesday 13 January at 2.30 pm.