Department for Exiting the European Union written question – answered at on 23 July 2019.
Lord Boswell of Aynho
Chair, European Union Committee, Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, Deputy Speaker (Lords), Chair, European Union Committee
To ask Her Majesty's Government for each Government department, from January to June, on how many occasions the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution was overridden in (1) the House of Lords, and (2) the House of Commons; and in respect of how many documents an override occurred in (a) both Houses, (b) the House of Lords, and (c) the House of Commons.
Lord Callanan
Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union)
Between January and June 2019, 414 Explanatory Memoranda on EU proposals and other documents were submitted for scrutiny.
During this period there were 37 occasions when the Government supported decisions in the EU Council of Ministers before parliamentary scrutiny procedures had been completed. In compiling these statistics a further 4 overrides were identified which were not included in the previous written answer for the period July-December 2018 (HL13200). They are included in this latest table.
As with previous six-monthly periods, the largest category of instruments were fast-moving and sensitive Common Foreign and Security Policy/EU restrictive measures proposals where there were 32 such instruments adopted before scrutiny could be completed.
The figures requested are set out below:
Department | (1 & b). House of Lords override | (2 & c). House Commons override | (a).No. of overrides in both Houses at same time | Total no. of overrides |
Cabinet Office | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office* | 31 | 33 | 31 | 33 |
HM Revenue & Customs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
International Trade | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Transport | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
HM Treasury | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Home Office** | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Totals | 37 | 41 | 37 | 41 |
*3 overrides occurred between July-December 2018
**Override occurred between July-December 2018
Yes0 people think so
No1 person thinks not
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The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
An informal reference to the Council of the European Union.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
