Oral Answers to Questions — House of Commons – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 October 1988.
To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will make it his policy to ensure that the directives recommended for debate by the Select Committee on European Legislation are debated within a reasonable period; and if he will make a statement.
Yes, Sir. This remains our objective.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that a major constitution worry is that most of the regulations, directives, letters and proposals from the EC are never discussed by Parliament? Is he aware that in the most recent report of the Select Committee there were 100 such documents which had been recommended for debate but for which time had not been found? Is he further aware that in addition we have a major problem in that some of the vital directives, such as that on mergers and the six documents on health and safety, have not been discussed at all? Would my right hon. Friend be willing to look at the issue to see whether there is some way in which we could more successfully handle parliamentary matters from the Common Market so that the measures affecting our constituents are properly discussed and not simply referred to briefly at 11.30 at night?
I recognise my hon. Friend's interest and concern in this matter. I do not think that the figures are quite as he said. As I understand it, 88 documents have not yet been debated. Of those, 38 are not at present under active consideration and nine are awaiting further documents. Of the remaining 41, several have been linked by the Select Committee and it is expected that they will require 20 debates. I am doing my best to arrange those. The position on mergers is that the documents recommended for debate early last year and before have been overtaken by a new document entitled "Control of concentrations between undertakings", No. 5963/88, which was considered by the Committee last week and recommended for debate. The Committee has now withdrawn its recommendation for debate on the earlier documents. To have debated the earlier documents would not have been the most effective use of the House's valuable time. My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry will now be considering the most appropriate time for debate on the new document.
As the cascade of controversial and unpopular EC directives increasingly threatens our sovereignty, with even British institutions such as the pound, the ounce, the mile and the pint in danger of being swept away, surely my right hon. Friend recognises the importance of effective and vigilant parliamentary machinery to stop 1992 from becoming a 1066. Will he consider beefing up the Select Committee on European Legislation to give it proper funding, more Sub-Committees and specialist advisers and, above all, regular debates in the House in prime time?
It is difficult to arrange debates in prime time as my hon. Friend would like, because there are many other issues that we must debate. I should have thought that the recent speech of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister would be of some comfort to my hon. Friend. The Select Committee on European Legislation already has wide-ranging powers to consider documents published for submission to the Council of Ministers or the European Council and to take evidence as appropriate. It is open to the Committee to examine the issues involved more widely within its terms of reference. I advise a cautious approach to changing its terms of reference at this stage, which includes the need to look carefully at the effect of our scrutiny procedures brought about by the Single European Act.