Britain: An official handbook > 1977

36
Parliamentary
Committees
Standing
Committees
Select
Committees
BRITAIN 1977: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
meat ministers, government departments for which ministers are responsible,
or to organisations whose regulations are subject to confirmation or approval
by ministers who thereby become responsible to Parliament for them. More¬
over, the Acts of Parliament by which particular powers are delegated normally
provide for some measure of parliamentary control over legislation made in
the exercise of these powers, for instance, by reserving to Parliament the right
to confirm or annul the orders themselves. Certain Acts also require direct
consultation with organisations which will be affected thereby before rules
and orders (in the form of statutory instruments) are made.
A joint committee of both Houses checks the technical propriety of statutory
instruments, and a standing committee of the House of Commons considers
their merits.
Either House may resolve itself into a committee, known as a committee of
the whole house, to consider Bills in detail, clause by clause, after their second
reading. A committee of the whole house is presided over by the Chairman of
Ways and Means (the Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords) or a
deputy chairman.
House of Commons standing committees include those which examine public
Bills at the committee stage and, in certain cases, at the second reading and
report stages; two Scottish standing committees; the Scottish Grand Com¬
mittee; the Welsh Grand Committee; and the Northern Ireland standing
committee. Ordinary standing committees have no distinctive names, being
referred to simply as Standing Committee A, B, C, and so on. Each has between
16 and 50 members with the balance of the parties reflecting as far as possible
that in the House as a whole. The Scottish Grand Committee, which comprises
all 71 Scottish members and ten to 15 others, considers the principles of
Scottish Bills referred to it at second reading stage, the Scottish estimates and
other matters relating exclusively to Scotlancj. The Welsh Grand Committee,
with all 36 Welsh members and up to five others, considers the annual report
for Wales and other subjects concerning Welsh affairs. The Northern Ireland
committee considers matters relating specifically to the province. An experi¬
mental standing committee has been set up to consider English regional affairs.
Select committees are generally set up, by either House, to help Parliament
with the control of the executive by examining some aspect of administration
and reporting to the House. They may be appointed as occasion demands or,
as ‘sessional’ select committees, at the beginning of a session. On rare occasions
a parliamentary Bill is examined by a select committee (a procedure additional
to the legislative process). Select committees are constituted on a party basis,
in proportion to party strength in the House.
Sessional select committees in the Commons include committees on public
accounts, expenditure, privileges, services, nationalised industries, the Parlia¬
mentary Commissioner for Administration and European Community
secondary legislation. The Committee of Selection and the Standing Orders
Committee have duties relating to private Bills, and the Committee of Selection
also chooses members to serve on standing committees. ‘Specialist’ select
committees not necessarily appointed regularly include those on science and
technology, race relations and immigration, and overseas development.
In their scrutiny of administrative activity and government policies, the
committees question ministers, senior civil servants and interested bodies and
individuals. They bring before Parliament and the public generally, through