House of Lords written question – answered at on 20 November 2012.
To ask Her Majesty's Government, for each Government department, from January to June 2012, (1) on how many occasions the scrutiny reserve resolution in the House of Lords was overridden, (2) on how many occasions the scrutiny reserve resolution in the House of Commons was overridden, and (3) in respect of how many documents an override occurred in (a) both Houses or (b) either House.
The Government will always seek to avoid breaching the scrutiny reserve resolutions of either House of Parliament and will continue to account for their actions in writing to the chairmen of the scrutiny committees in each House when this happens.
During this period the Government submitted 482 Explanatory Memorandums (EMs) on proposals and other documents for scrutiny, and each EM can potentially result in overrides in either House. Between January and June 2012, there were 57 occasions when measures were adopted before scrutiny could be completed in either House. Recesses are a constant factor when Parliament's weekly scrutiny processes are interrupted with 18 of the overrides occurring at times when the scrutiny committees were not meeting.
Thirty-two of the total number of overrides involved fast-moving sanctions and restrictive measures proposals on which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office lead, and where delaying agreement would have undermined their effectiveness.
The figures requested are set out in the table below:
Department | HoL override | HoC override | Overrides in both Houses | Total |
BIS | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
DEFRA | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
DWP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
FCO | 33 | 35 | 33 | 35 |
HMT | 5 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
HO | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
MOD | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
TOTALS | 46 | 50 | 39 | 57 |
The Ministry of Defence item was an override from November 2011 which was omitted in error from the report for July-December 2011 (HL687).
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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