PR/S2/06/1/A PROCEDURES COMMITTEE AGENDA · 2011. 12. 20. · PR/S2/06/1/A PROCEDURES COMMITTEE AGENDA 1st Meeting, 2006 (Session 2) Tuesday 10 January 2006 The Committee will meet

PR/S2/06/1/A

PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

AGENDA

1st Meeting, 2006 (Session 2)

Tuesday 10 January 2006

The Committee will meet at 10.15 am in Committee Room 1.

1. Review of Parliamentary Time: The Committee will take evidence, in a video conference, from—

Neil Laurie, Clerk of the Queensland Parliament, Australia.

2. Procedures relating to Crown appointments: The Committee will consider correspondence with the SPCB.

3. Procedures relating to Crown appointments (in private): The Committee will consider a revised draft report.

Andrew Mylne Clerk to the Committee

Room TG.01 Ext 85175

[email protected]

* * * * * * * * * * *

The following papers are attached for this meeting: Agenda item 1 Note on the Queensland Parliament Note on the visit to the Norwegian Parliament Note on the videoconference with the Deputy Clerk of the New Zealand Parliament

PR/S2/06/1/1

PR/S2/06/1/2

PR/S2/06/1/3

Agenda item 2Correspondence between the Convener and the Presiding Officer (as chair of the SPCB) on use of an assessor to inform decisions on re-appointment

PR/S2/06/1/4

Agenda item 3 Revised draft Report (PRIVATE PAPER – MEMBERS ONLY)

PR/S2/06/1/5

The following papers are attached for information: Note by the clerks on the Sewel Convention inquiry: implementation Note on Executive’s proposed TWA Bill Minutes of the last meeting

PR/S2/06/1/6

PR/S2/06/1/7

PR/S2/05/16/M

PR/S2/06/1/1 Agenda item 1


Review of Parliamentary Time

Queensland Parliament

Note by the Clerks: This note provides a very brief introduction to Queensland’s Parliament and system of government, based on information available on the Parliament’s website (http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au). The response to the Committee’s comparative research questionnaire (which was received on 12 September 2005) is set out in full below. This information was previously edited and circulated to the committee as part of paper PR/S2/05/13/3. The Queensland Parliament and Government 1. Government in Australia has three levels; Federal, State and Local.

Federal Government is responsible for areas such as Defence, Immigration and Taxation while examples of State Government responsibilities include Education, Health, Law Courts and Transport. Local Government controls matters such as Traffic control and Town planning.

2. Each State also has a Governor who is appointed by the Queen as her

representative on the advice of the Premier. The current State Governor in Queensland is Her Excellency Quentin Alice Louise Bryce AC. The powers of the Governor are by convention exercised on the advice of the Premier and include the power to dissolve or prorogue Parliament, issue writs for election, call upon a person to form a government, and exercise the Royal Prerogative of Pardon or Remission of sentence.

3. The Queensland Parliament is a State Parliament. It is a unicameral

parliament, comprised of only one House, the Legislative Assembly (Lower House). The Legislative Council (Upper House) was abolished on 23 March 1922. Queensland is the only unicameral State Parliament in Australia.

4. The Queensland Parliament first met on 22 May 1860. The Parliamentary

model is the British parliamentary or Westminster system – a separation of powers between the legislature, the Executive and the judiciary. The Executive or government is formed by the party or coalition winning the majority of seats after a state election.

5. The Queensland Parliament has legislative competence for Education,

Forestry, Health, the Law Courts, Local Government, Mining and Agriculture, Transport and the Police, Fire Brigades and Ambulance Services.

6. The Parliament has 89 Members representing 89 electorates of

approximately 27,000 voters. Queensland's Constitution requires that a

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state election must be held at least once every three years and during that period Parliament must meet at least once a year.

7. Universal adult suffrage applies, which means eligible voters have to be

Australian citizens who have attained the age of 18 years and who have been resident in an electoral district for at least one month. Enrolment and voting are compulsory, the latter being by secret ballot. Optional preferential or contingent voting is used as the method of voting, i.e. electors have the choice of directing a vote exclusively to one candidate, or of indicating partially or completely their preferences for other candidates on the ballot paper.

8. In 2005 the composition of the Queensland Parliament was Australian

Labour Party (61 Members), National Party of Australia (15 Members), One Nation Party (1 Member) and Independents (5 Members). The Australian Labour Party (ALP) has been the governing party since it took power from the National Party in 1989. The leader of the ALP in Queensland is the Hon Peter Douglas Beattie and the leader of the main opposition National Party is Lawrence James Springborg.

9. MPs’ parliamentary responsibilities include participation in parliamentary

matters including the enactment of legislation, debate on Government policy and serving on parliamentary committees. Constituency responsibilities are representing an electoral district, providing advice and assistance to constituents and acting as an advocate of local interests.

10. There are currently seven permanent committees and three select

committees. Each committee has seven MPs including Members of the governing party, Members of the opposition and Members of any minor parties and/or any independents.

11. The equivalent of the Scottish Parliament’s Procedures Committee is the

Standing Orders Committee, which is responsible for all matters concerning the Standing Orders including any additions or alterations in relation to the practice and procedures of the House. In addition to Standing Orders the Parliament also has Sessional Orders – which are motions passed by the Legislative Assembly to enable it to do certain things and take certain actions not covered by Standing Orders or are designed to supersede a particular Standing Order for the duration of a parliamentary session.

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Procedures Committee Review of Parliamentary Time Inquiry:

Comparative information – Queensland Parliament Sitting pattern 1. What is the parliamentary/assembly calendar in a typical year (i.e. sitting periods and recess periods) and how much do these periods vary from year to year within the parliamentary/assembly session? The Constitution of Queensland 2001 requires at least two sittings per calendar year and no more than six months between two sittings1. Typically the Parliamentary calendar begins at the end of February and ends in early December. The Parliament does not identify “recess dates”, but the House tends not to sit during school holidays. Extended breaks between sitting weeks coincide with holiday periods over Easter, June and September. The 50th Parliament sat for 15 weeks (46 days) in 2001, 17 weeks (53 days) in 2002, and 15 weeks (46 days) in 2003. The 51st Parliament sat for 13 weeks (40 days) in 2004. The sitting pattern2 for 2005 is currently 15 weeks (48 days). 2. On how many days did the chamber sit during the last full calendar or parliamentary year, and how many chamber hours were there in total during that period? The 51st Parliament sat for 40 days in 2004 (between 16 March and 25 November). The total number of chamber hours was 416 hrs 49 mins, further details are at Annex A. 3. Is the parliamentary/assembly sitting pattern normally the same each non-recess week? Yes. Standing Orders state3:

“58. Routine of business to be set by Sessional Orders

(1) The House shall, by Sessional Orders, determine:

(a) the days each week the House shall sit;

1 See s 19 of the Constitution of Queensland 2001 available online at http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/search97cgi/s97r_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fproduction%2Flegislation%2Fhtdocs%2FLEGISLTN%2FACTS%2F2001%2F01AC080%2Epdf&doctype=raw&Collection=Acts+As+Passed#xml=http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/search97cgi/s97r_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fproduction%2Flegislation%2Fhtdocs%2FLEGISLTN%2FACTS%2F2001%2F01AC080%2Epdf&doctype=xml&Collection=Acts+As+Passed&QueryZip=constitution+of+queensland+2001%0D%0A&2 Up to date parliamentary sitting dates are available on the Queensland Parliament website at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/home/sittingDates.asp3 Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, Standing Order 58. A copy is available online at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/legislativeAssembly/documents/procedures/StandingRules&Orders.pdf

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http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/search97cgi/s97r_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fproduction%2Flegislation%2Fhtdocs%2FLEGISLTN%2FACTS%2F2001%2F01AC080%2Epdf&doctype=raw&Collection=Acts+As+Passed#xml=http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/search97cgi/s97r_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fproduction%2Flegislation%2Fhtdocs%2FLEGISLTN%2FACTS%2F2001%2F01AC080%2Epdf&doctype=xml&Collection=Acts+As+Passed&QueryZip=constitution+of+queensland+2001%0D%0A&






http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/home/sittingDates.asp

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/legislativeAssembly/documents/procedures/StandingRules&Orders.pdf


(b) the routine of business each day; and

(c) the time the House will sit each day.

(2) The routine of business in (1)(b) shall include:

(a) an opportunity for tabling and debate of committee reports; and

(b) an opportunity for Private Members’ Bills to be introduced and debated.” The days and hours of sitting and order of business are governed by the Sessional Orders of the 51st Parliament4. The Sessional Orders, which are in force for the duration of a Parliament, are adopted by the Legislative Assembly on a motion moved by the Leader of the House (the Queensland Parliament does not have an equivalent of the Parliamentary Bureau or Business Committee). a) If so, on which days of the week does the chamber usually sit and what are the daily sitting times? Sessional Orders provide that the House sits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but there are also sometimes Friday sittings. Sitting days start at 9.30am and finish when the House rises (the House aims to rise by 10.30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and earlier on Thursday). There is a lunch break from 1.00 to 2.30pm and a dinner break from 6.30 to 7.30pm. 4. How and by whom is the parliamentary/assembly calendar and sitting pattern determined? How far in advance are such decisions made? A proposed calendar of sitting days is circulated by the Leader of the House, usually six months in advance of the sitting dates. At the conclusion of the last sitting day of the week, the Leader of the House moves that the House adjourns until a specified day. If this “special adjournment” motion is not moved, Standing Orders require the House to sit the next day not being a Sunday at 9.30am5.

4 A copy of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland Sessional Orders 51st Parliament can be accessed online at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/legislativeAssembly/documents/procedures/SessionalOrders.pdf5 Standing Order 57.

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http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/legislativeAssembly/documents/procedures/SessionalOrders.pdf


5. When do Members undertake other duties such as constituency business and work for their political parties? Members undertake electorate and party duties during non-sitting weeks and Mondays and Fridays of sitting weeks. 6. Have there been any recent changes to parliamentary/assembly working practices? The Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly were comprehensively revised and a new version adopted by the 51st Parliament, effective from 31 August 2004. Longstanding procedures contained in Sessional Orders (including: questions; debating of committee reports; amendments, presentation of Bills; disallowance motions; power to withdraw members; debating Private Members’ Bills; and Register of Members’ Interests) were incorporated into the Standing Orders. This represented the most comprehensive change to Standing Orders in the history of the Legislative Assembly. The parliamentary process was reviewed at the same time and some changes made. Chamber business 7. How is the business of the parliament/assembly decided? Order of Business is set out in the Sessional Orders. Any changes are moved by the Leader of the House. 8. How is chamber time divided up? Order of Business and time allocations are set out in the Sessional Orders. a) How much of the time available is given to the government and how much to the opposition parties? The majority of Chamber time is dedicated to government business. There is no “opposition party business”; this is covered by Private Members’ business. Question Time is held for an hour each sitting day. The Leader of the Opposition can ask two questions without notice; other Members can ask one question. The Speaker calls non-government and government Members in turn, with Ministers having three minutes to answer (until the hour elapses). b) Is a proportion of time allocated to particular types of business (e.g. legislation, questions, statements and debates)? If so please give details. Yes. Sessional Orders set the order of business and maximum time limits for debates, speeches and statements.

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c) How much time is available for committee business (e.g. the debating of a committee’s report)? Standing Orders require the routine of business to include opportunity for tabling and debate of committee reports6. Sessional Orders provide that each sitting Thursday the Order of Business includes ‘Debating of Committee Reports’ between 9.30 – 10.30am. In practice, time is limited due to other business scheduled at that time, such as Ministerial Statements. 9. Who decides how long debates and the speeches of individual members should be? The Speaker enforces the time limits set out in Sessional Orders. a) Are there rules which guarantee speakers an amount of time and set limits on this (e.g. a maximum or minimum speaking time)? Yes, time limits are set in the Sessional Orders. b) Is there a set length of time for debates and how is it decided what length of time a particular debate will be? Sessional Orders set time limits for most debates; however, a Member may move a closure motion during debate on a question (colloquially known as a “gag”)7. There is generally no time limit to debate of legislation (other than the limit on time for individual contributions). The exception is that a Minister may move that a Bill be declared urgent and specify the time allotted to various stages of the Bill (colloquially known as a “guillotine” motion)8. 10. How much discretion is left with the Speaker or Presiding Officer to decide who speaks, the order of the speakers and the length of speeches? The Speaker has discretion to determine the order of speakers and ensures government and non-government Members are called in turn. Time limits for speeches are set out in the Sessional Orders. Committee business 11. How many committees does the parliament/assembly have and what role do the committees perform? The Queensland Parliament currently has nine committees9. 6 Standing Order 58. 7 Standing Order 88. 8 Standing Order 159. 9 Details of committee roles are online at http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/committees/committees.asp?area=introduction&LIndex=0&SubArea=introduction#subnav

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http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/committees/committees.asp?area=introduction&LIndex=0&SubArea=introduction#subnav

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/committees/committees.asp?area=introduction&LIndex=0&SubArea=introduction#subnav


The Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 requires the establishment of six committees:

• Legal, Constitutional and Administrative Review Committee • Members’ Ethics and Parliamentary Privileges Committee • Public Accounts Committee • Public Works Committee • Scrutiny of Legislation Committee • Standing Orders Committee

The Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 requires the establishment of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee. The remaining two committees are select committees established by resolution of the House:

• Impact of Petrol Pricing Select Committee (time limited) • Travel Safe Committee

Standing Orders also allow for the establishment of Estimates Committees to consider the Appropriation Bills after they have been read a second time. The current practice is to establish seven estimates committees, titled A-G. There are seven days of public hearings (one for each committee) during which time the entire budget is scrutinised. 12. How many members generally serve on a committee and how many serve on more than one committee? Standing Orders require that committees have no more than eight members; currently each committee has seven members10. Of the 89 Members of Parliament, 54 members serve on committees. Six of those members serve on two committees (five on the time limited Select Committee). 13. On what days and at what times of the day do the committees usually meet and how often does a typical committee meet? How many committee hours were there during the last full calendar or parliamentary year? Committees typically meet each sitting week, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday, although they can meet at other times. The Scrutiny of Legislation Committee meets on a Monday, so that it can circulate its ‘Alert Digest’ (report on Bills and Subordinate Legislation) before the first sitting day of the week. Meeting times vary from an hour to three hours. Committee annual reports provide details of meetings held, but the Parliament does not collate this information or record total committee hours. 10 Standing Order 194.

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14. Can a committee meet at the same time as the chamber? How many committees meet at the same time as each other? Yes, most committees meet at the same time as the chamber. A couple of committees usually meet at the same time. 15. Do committees meeting at the same time as the chamber lead to difficulties (e.g. achieving a quorum of members in either committee or chamber)? No, but committee members are required to return to the chamber if a division is called.


ANNEX A SITTING TIMES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY - 2004 (51st Parliament)

Vote No. Day Start Time Finish Time Hours Minutes Minutes after Midnight

Minutes Sitting suspended

No. of sitting days

1 16-Mar-04 10.00 am 11.37 am 1 37 0 0 1 2 17-Mar-04 2.10 pm 2.53 pm 0 43 0 0 2 3 18-Mar-04 9.30 am 6.07 pm 8 37 0 59 3 4 20-Apr-04 9.30 am 9.28 pm 11 58 0 122 4 5 21-Apr-04 9.30 am 10.29 pm 12 59 0 126 5 6 22-Apr-04 9.30 am 6.31 pm 9 1 0 57 6 7 27-Apr-04 9.30 am 9.36 pm 12 6 0 115 7 8 28-Apr-04 9.30 am 10.31pm 13 1 0 121 8 9 29-Apr-04 9.30 am 6.29 pm 8 59 0 56 9

10 11-May-04 9.30 am 9.33 pm 12 3 0 124 10 11 12-May-04 9.30 am 6.50 pm 9 20 0 59 11 12 13-May-04 9.30 am 7.18 pm 9 48 0 62 12 13 18-May-04 9.30 am 9.26 pm 11 56 0 119 13 14 19-May-04 9.30 am 10.29 pm 12 59 0 120 14 15 20-May-04 9.30 am 5.28 pm 7 58 0 60 15 16 15-Jun-04 9.30 am 2.43 pm 5 13 0 62 16 17 16-Jun-04 9.30 am 6.58 pm 9 28 0 60 17 18 17-Jun-04 9.30 am 12.38 am 15 8 38 120 18 19 18-Jun-04 9.39 am 4.54 pm 7 15 0 61 19 20 17-Aug-04 9.30am 11.05pm 13 35 0 120 20 21 18-Aug-04 9.30am 10.34pm 13 34 0 120 21 22 19-Aug-04 9.30am 6.26pm 8 56 0 58 22 23 31-Aug-04 9.30am 9.30pm 12 0 0 121 23

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Vote No. Day Start Time Finish Time Hours Minutes Minutes after Midnight

Minutes Sitting suspended

No. of sitting days

24 01-Sep-04 9.30am 10.28pm 12 58 0 135 24 25 02-Sep-04 9.30am 5.57pm 8 27 0 60 25 26 28-Sep-04 9.30am 9.29pm 11 59 0 119 26 27 29-Sep-04 9.43am 7.05pm 9 22 0 59 27 28 30-Sep-04 9.30am 6.24pm 8 54 0 61 28 29 05-Oct-04 9.30am 6.27pm 8 57 0 58 29 30 06-Oct-04 9.30am 7.02pm 9 32 0 64 30 31 07-Oct-04 9.30am 7.31pm 10 1 0 61 31 32 19-Oct-04 9.30am 10.16pm 12 46 0 126 32 33 20-Oct-04 9.30am 11.24pm 13 54 0 114 33 34 21-Oct-04 9.30am 7.27pm 9 57 0 61 34 35 09-Nov-04 9.30am 11.45pm 14 15 0 120 35 36 10-Nov-04 9.30am 11.41pm 14 11 0 115 36 37 11-Nov-04 9.30am 7.37pm 10 7 0 64 37 38 23-Nov-04 9.30am 1.30am 16 0 90 121 38 39 24-Nov-04 9.30am 7.00pm 9 30 0 61 39 40 25-Nov-04 9.30am 5.15pm 7 45 0 60 40

Totals 416 hrs 49 min 128 56 hours 21 mins 40

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Note of visit to Norwegian Parliament

Nature of visit 1. The first visit to a foreign legislature in connection with the above inquiry took

place on Tuesday 13 December. The Convener and Alex Johnstone, accompanied by the Clerk, travelled to Oslo on the Monday and returned on the Wednesday, thus allowing a full day with our hosts.

2. The day’s programme was:

• 10 am to 12 noon – General introduction to the procedures from Mr Hans Brattestå, Secretary General (equivalent to Clerk/Chief Executive). This included around 20 minutes observing the beginning of the day’s plenary business from the public gallery, plus a tour of the building;

• 12 noon to 2 pm – Meeting with Ms Berit Brørby, President of the Odelsting, followed by lunch hosted by Ms Brørby and including senior officials;

• 2 pm to 4 pm – Meeting with Mr Oddvar Overå, Deputy Secretary General, and staff from the Constitutional Office;

• 8 pm – Dinner hosted by Mr Inge Lønning, President of the Lagting.

3. The tour included a very impressive new facility for school pupils to learn about Parliamentary democracy. A principal feature of this was a replica section of the Chamber in which the pupils hold their own debates. They spend a whole day in the Centre, are divided into “party” groups and have lively debates on real current issues such as the rights of minorities and refugees.

The Norwegian constitution and political system

4. Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a written constitution. As in Britain, while Executive power rests, ultimately, with the monarch (currently King Harald V), in practice it is exercised by the Government, which is accountable to the Parliament. The main difference from the British model is that there is a formal separation between executive and legislature – that is, no person can be a Government minister and an MP at the same time. Therefore, after an election, any MP who is invited to join the Government must immediately resign as an MP.

5. General elections are normally held every four years. The electoral system is a proportional system based on party lists (similar to those used for

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regional MSPs). Each part of the country returns a number of members based on population, and a total of 150 MPs are returned on this basis. A further 19 MPs are returned on the basis of “additional mandates” assigned to even out discrepancies between votes cast and the “ordinary mandate” seats – making a total of 169 MPs. Where an MP resigns – including in order to join the Government – the next person on the party list takes their seat in the Storting.

6. The main political parties include (on the left) the Socialist Left Party and the Labour Party; (in the centre) the Centre Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party; and (on the right) the Conservative Party and the Progress Party.

7. The current coalition Government (Labour, Socialist Left and Centre Party) under Jens Stoltenberg is the first majority Government for around 20 years.

The structure and general procedures of the Storting

Lagting and Odelsting

8. The Storting is a modified unicameral Parliament. After an election, one quarter of the MPs are appointed to be members of the Lagting (nominally the “upper” House) and the remaining three quarters become members of the Odelsting (“lower” House). This division only applies for the purpose of considering Bills; other business is conducted in the plenary. The Lagting has a separate, smaller chamber, whereas the Odelsting meets in the main Storting Chamber.

The Presidium

9. The senior office-holders of the Storting are the President and Vice President of the Storting, and the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Lagting and Odelsting. These six members constitute the Presidium, which is responsible for the order of business, setting time limits for debates, and ensuring that procedural rules are observed.

The Chamber

10. The Storting Chamber (and the Lagting chamber, which is a smaller room with a similar layout) has members’ seats arranged in a semi-circle, with the members in the middle of the arc facing the President (Speaker). Immediately to the President’s left, and slightly lower, is a rostrum from which members address the chamber (an additional rostrum has recently been added in the well of the main chamber for disabled members). Galleries for the press and civil servants are arranged on either side of the President; a public gallery runs round the semi-circle a floor above. TV cameras provide a live feed to offices throughout the building. Monitor screens show the day of the session and the item of business under consideration.

11. MPs sit strictly according to geography, rather than party. The front row of seats is reserved for Ministers who, although not themselves MPs, attend relevant proceedings and may speak (though not vote). Each seat has “For”

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and “Against” voting buttons, although members usually also indicate how they are voting by rising or remaining seated. Voting is sometimes also conducted by other means (by roll call, or by printed ballot paper for elections). There is no electronic voting in the Lagting.

Attendance and order

12. The quorum for the Storting to begin a meeting or to vote is 50% of the MPs. The Chamber was certainly very full at the beginning of the meeting we observed. However, after the first item (formal presentation of a Bill), a substantial proportion of members left before the next item (debate on a committee report) began. Monitor screens outside the Chamber show all the MPs currently in the building, listed by party (based on data from swipe-card readers at the entrance).

13. Proceedings are generally very ordered. One factor here is the short interval between speeches as the previous member returns to his or her seat and the next member walks to the podium. There is a Rule forbidding “noisy expressions of disapproval or applause” during debates; and interventions are also not permitted. There are also strict conventions about what is counted as appropriate Parliamentary language.

Categories of business

14. Apart from legislation, the Storting devotes considerable time to consideration of the Government’s budget proposals, and to Parliamentary scrutiny functions. All these types of business commonly involve consideration of reports by committees.

Budget scrutiny

15. The Rules require a proposed Fiscal Budget, and a report on the National Budget, to be submitted within 6 days of the opening of the Storting each year. The Presidium then recommends how the budget is to be distributed among the standing committees and spending programmes. The Finance and Economic Affairs Committee must make recommendations on these budget proposals by 20 November, together with recommendations on taxes and duties and on grants to local government. These recommendations must be considered in plenary within a week. Each committee then makes recommendations for appropriations within its allocated budget, and these are considered in plenary by 15 December. The resolutions resulting from this consideration are final. Any proposal for amending a budget during the fiscal year must be made by 15 May, and the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee must then make recommendations on such a proposal by the second Friday in June.

Questions and interpellations

16. There are normally two Question Times each Wednesday. At “oral Question Time”, questions of which no written notice has been given are directed at different Ministers (including the Prime Minister once a month); questioners get one supplementary, and other MPs may also ask a supplementary.

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There are time-limits of 2 minutes for the opening question and for the initial reply and 1 minute for supplementaries and later replies. This is followed by “ordinary” Question Time involving written-notice questions to Ministers, with the questioner normally entitled to two supplementary comments or questions. These ordinary questions are limited to 3 minutes and supplementaries and replies to 1 minute. Ministers are entitled to refuse to answer questions at either oral or ordinary Question Time. All questions must be brief and refer to specific issues.

17. MPs may also submit written questions. There is a limit of two written or ordinary questions per member per week, and questions may not be submitted during July or August. Written questions should be answered within 6 working days (although “holding” answers within that time are permitted).

18. Interpellations are questions to the Government submitted in writing to the Presidium with a view to initiating a debate, within a month, of up to 90 minutes’ duration. The interpellator speaks first for up to 10 minutes, the relevant Minister (and other Ministers) may respond at similar length, the interpellator and the Minister may speak again for up to 3 minutes each, and other members may then speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Committees

19. Apart from the President and Vice President of the Storting for whom it is optional, all MPs must be members of one (and only one) of the standing committees. There are 13 such committees, each covering an area of government responsibility (e.g. Defence, Health and Care Services). The membership of each committee has to represent party proportionality; and an attempt is also made to ensure a degree of geographical balance. Each committees has between 8 and 20 members. There is a permanent secretary (clerk) for each committee, plus a pool of other staff available to all committees on demand.

20. With the exception of the Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs, committees generally deal only with matters within their remits that are referred to them; they have no real power of initiative. On the other hand, they have very considerable autonomy over their timetables, and in most cases take as long to report on matters referred to them as they think they need (although the Government does sometimes request delivery within a specified timescale). But in budget matters, there are specific timetables, set by the Presidium. Committees can also decide whether to hold public hearings, including on Bills. These usually involve hearing evidence from relevant organisations, companies etc, rather than from individuals. Committees may travel where necessary, with the Presidium’s consent.

21. Public hearings cannot take place at the same time as the Chamber is sitting, but other committee meetings, which are held in private, can.

22. Almost all Storting business is considered first in committee and then in plenary.

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Consideration of legislation

23. The vast majority of Bills originate from the Government and are the product of thorough consultation and subject to initial Royal approval before introduction. Individual MPs may also introduce Bills, but only 1 or 2 in the last decade have made it into law.

24. After formal introduction in the Storting, the first reading of any Bill is in the Odelsting, which normally refers it to a committee. If the committee’s recommendation is agreed by the Odelsting, the Bill is then referred to the Lagting. Each Ting (House) may propose amendments to the Bill for the other Ting to accept or reject. If the Lagting does not accept Odelsting amendments on a second occasion, the Bill can be referred to the plenary Storting for a final decision (by two-thirds majority) – although this has happened only 12 times in the past century.

25. Formally, the Lagting is the “upper” House and used to consist mostly of senior members, particularly those with legal or constitutional experience. However, in recent years the practice has been for the parties to propose more junior MPs for Lagting membership. Since no party wishes to challenge the nominations of others, the Lagting has become in practice a fairly tame institution which normally endorses whatever the Odelsting has decided with minimal additional debate. Indeed, during 2003-04, the Lagting met only for a total of around 1 hour (spread over 14 very short meetings), compared with 58 hours in the Odelsting (44 meetings) and 384 hours in the Storting (103 meetings). It is anticipated that there will be serious moves in the next few years to abolish the Lagting/Odelsting structure and adopt a simple unicameral arrangement.

26. Many Bills confer powers on the Government to make secondary legislation but in the majority of cases this is not subject to any process of Parliamentary scrutiny or approval.

Sitting pattern

27. The longer-term sitting pattern is now decided well in advance. We were given copies of a 16-page document listing plenary and committee travel through to June, although only the following fortnight’s business was set out in full, and there was not much detail beyond about January.

28. In most weeks, the Storting sits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. At busy times of the year, there can also be sittings on Mondays and Fridays (and very occasionally Saturdays).

29. The normal sitting hours are from 10 am to 3 pm, with no lunch-break. Where necessary, the sitting resumes at 6 pm and continues until the business is completed (though a special decision is needed to sit beyond 10 pm). These evening sittings were commonplace until a couple of years ago but are now relatively rare (though more common in the run-up to Christmas and the summer recess). When they do occur, they usually last only until 7 or 8 pm, whereas in the past it was as likely to have been midnight.

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30. There has been a deliberate move in recent years among the parties to encourage more younger MPs and more women, and this has prompted the move towards more “family-friendly” hours. We understood that there has been no great resistance to this change; indeed many current MPs now can’t remember the old arrangements and are pressing for further changes.

31. A programme for the following week is decided on Thursday by the Presidium and is posted in paper and electronic form by 3 pm on Friday. This includes expected hours of sitting and a provisional list of business. The detailed timetable for each day’s business is then decided on a motion of the Presidium at the beginning of the sitting.

32. Until relatively recently, decisions and votes were taken after each item. At present decisions are normally taken at the end of each day’s business (i.e. usually at 3 pm). Bells are rung for 5 or 10 minutes before any vote to ensure that all MPs can participate.

Structure of debates and speaking times

33. We watched from the gallery the beginning of a plenary debate on a committee report. This was opened by the committee chair/rapporteur. After her opening speech, a succession of speakers from other parties made short remarks, after each of which the committee chair gave a response.

34. Fixed time parameters for individual debates are now used much less frequently, based on a general recognition that “politics can’t be put into frames”. Apparently, the experience has been that many debates have actually got shorter as a result, presumably because members now speak only when they have something to say, rather than being expected to speak in order to help use up an overall time allocation.

35. The maximum speaking time for any member is 30 minutes (previously 1 hour), and 10 minutes for any second speech in the same debate. In practice, the President sets shorter speaking times in most cases, but not normally shorter than 3 minutes.

36. Speakers’ lists are prepared in advance, with the overall time proposed divided roughly according to party size – although the smaller parties are given a slightly larger allocation of time per member than the bigger parties. The whips then divide the party allocation among its MPs wishing to speak. The Government parties must include time for Ministers (although not MPs) from their allocation.

37. After all the speakers on the list have spoken, there is then an opportunity for any MP to speak on two occasions for up to 3 minutes each time – a form of “open debate”. We were told that this is often the most lively and interesting part of the debate. It also introduces a degree of unpredictability in relation to timing, although end-times can usually be predicted to within about 20 minutes.

38. Where speaking times apply, they are strictly enforced by the President. A red light on the podium comes on with 30 seconds to go; at the end of the

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time, the President first rises and then bangs a gavel, increasingly loudly, until the member stops speaking – although these indications are only occasionally necessary.

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Note of Video Conference with Officials from the New Zealand Parliament Introduction 1. Earlier this year the Committee agreed to undertake video conferences

with the New Zealand and Queensland Parliaments to inform the Review of Parliamentary Time inquiry. Accordingly, a video conference with officials from the New Zealand Parliament took place at 8.15pm on Wednesday 14 December. The following individuals participated:

Donald Gorrie MSP, Convener Jane McEwan, Senior Assistant Clerk Mary Harris, Deputy Clerk, NZ Parliament David Bagnall, Clerk to the Standing Orders Committee, NZ Parliament

2. In preparation for the video conference, the NZ Parliament also provided

some further written information and this is attached at Annexe A. Main Areas of Discussion 3. During the course of the video conference the following points were noted. Parliamentary Committees 4. The NZ Parliament’s select committees have similar powers and remits to

Scottish Parliament Committees, i.e. they are responsible not only for scrutinising legislation but they can also initiate inquiries. Membership of the committees is determined by the Business Committee (which is very similar in terms of composition and remit to the Parliamentary Bureau). The composition of the select committees reflects the political balance within the Parliament. However, smaller parties who may not be eligible to have a member on a particular committee may request that they be given non-voting membership. This gives them all the privileges of a full member but without voting rights. A minority government is in power following the recent elections in NZ and, as a consequence, there is no government majority on the select committees.

5. Although select committees can initiate inquiries, there is currently no set

mechanism by which the reports arising from inquiries can be debated in the Chamber. There appears to be some pressure from MPs to amend the procedures to allow opportunities for committee debates. However there is already pressure on Chamber time so it is debatable whether such changes would ever be agreed. The Clerk of the Parliament has recently

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put forward proposals to extend the sitting times1 to the Standing Orders Committee. These proposals include shortening the evening dinner break and sitting on a Friday.

Urgent Debates 6. Members of the NZ Parliament may lodge a proposal with the Speaker

(Presiding Officer) for an urgent debate. An urgent debate must be on a matter which a) is a matter of recent occurrence, b) involves the administrative or ministerial responsibility of the Government, and c) requires the immediate attention of the House. Members must lodge their proposals for an urgent debate to the speaker by 1pm on each sitting day. The Speaker then considers the proposal(s) and makes an announcement at the start of business at 2pm that day on whether the debate will go ahead later that day. An urgent debate may last up to 90 minutes and there are generally about 10 such debates each year.

Business Planning 7. In December of each year the Parliament agrees its sitting pattern (i.e.

recess dates) for the year ahead. As in the Scottish Parliament, the Business Committee and the Government takes the lead in setting the weekly timetabling of business.

Speeches and Debates 8. Members can generally speak for up to 10 minutes in a debate. In

addition, members may agree to split their allocation and give 5 minutes to a colleague. Interventions (or interjections as they are known in the NZ Parliament) are not common. There is a more formal procedure where a member may “yield” to another; however, this too is little used. There have been some complaints about a lack of time for speeches and debates but this feeling does not appear to be widespread among members.

Oral Questions 9. Each sitting day includes an oral questions session which generally lasts

between 60 and 90 minutes. Questions must be submitted by 9am, the list of those selected is notified to members at 10.30am and oral questions usually begin at 2pm. As in the Scottish Parliament, the member who asked the question is always given the first supplementary. Questions may also be directed to members with other parliamentary responsibilities, including the chair of a select committee. Questions to committee chairs must however relate to their responsibilities as committee chair rather than policy so the questions tend to deal with more procedural matters.

1 The Parliament normally sits from 14:00-18:00 and 19:30-22:00 on Tues and Wed and from 14:00-18:00 on a Thurs.

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Further Information 10. An Official Report of the discussion was not produced, but an audio

recording of the video conference on disc is available from the clerks.

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Procedures relating to Crown appointments

Correspondence with the SPCB

CONVENER LETTER TO PRESIDING OFFICER (AS CHAIR OF SPCB) In my letter of 15 November I set out the main recommendations which would feature in the Procedures Committee’s forthcoming report on procedures relating to Crown appointees. I indicated then that the Committee would be recommending the Parliament adopts a non-competitive re-appointment procedure incorporating a formal interview of the current post-holder by the SPCB together with an independent assessor. Since then it has been suggested that an independent assessor should also be involved at an earlier stage in the process to review and assess the post-holder’s performance against a set of relevant criteria and provide a report to the SPCB. This report, together with the subsequent interview, would inform the SPCB’s decision on whether to recommend re-appointment. There is some support among Committee members for this proposal. However, before finalising the report, the Committee felt it would be helpful to seek your views on the merits and practicability of this proposal, together with an indication of the likely cost implications. We hope to finalise the report at the next Committee meeting on 10 January so, if you have any comments on the proposed change, I would be grateful if you could let me know by noon on 5 January, if possible. I look forward to hearing from you. Donald Gorrie Convener 20 December 2005 REPLY BY THE PRESIDING OFFICER Thank you for your letter of 20 December. I am grateful to you for keeping me informed of the progress made by the Committee and the additional issues which have arisen since Nora Radcliffe gave evidence on behalf of the SPCB. We are pleased to note the likely recommendation the committee will be making to the Parliament in respect of a non-competitive re-appointment procedure incorporating a formal interview of the current post-holder by the SPCB together with an independent assessor.


I see from your letter that there is some support among Committee members for an additional role for an independent assessor in assessing the performance of a post- holder against a set of relevant criteria and reporting to the SPCB, and you have asked for our views before finalising your report. When the SPCB gave evidence to the committee, what you had in mind was a role we envisaged would be undertaken by the SPCB. While we can see the advantages to what is now proposed, in practice it would cause the SPCB some considerable difficulty in finding anyone to undertake such a task. We noted this proposal when it was first raised in your public evidence taking session on 25 October 2005. We therefore contacted the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland to see whether such a role could be undertaken by the independent assessors she oversees for all public appointments. She has advised us that the primary role of the independent assessors for public appointments is to oversee that the appointment process has been undertaken in a fair and impartial manner. The separate role of undertaking an assessment of a post-holder’s performance would therefore be outwith her assessors’ remit. It might also be helpful to the Committee to note that we would consider it against human resources management best practice to bring in outside assessors for appraisal purposes. We are not aware that there would be anyone in the private sector who would be appropriately qualified to undertake a meaningful assessment, separately of each post-holder given the varied work of the post-holders. But in any event, as these are Crown appointments on the nomination of the Parliament, we are not sure it would be appropriate to go down this route. In your letter, you have also asked for an indication of the likely cost associated with this proposal. I hope you will appreciate that, as we are not aware of anyone who could undertake such a role, it is not therefore possible to provide you with such an estimate. I hope the above will be helpful to the Committee in its deliberations. George Reid 22 December 2005

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PR/S2/06/1/6 For information


Sewel Convention inquiry: implementation

Note by the Clerk

1. The purpose of this memorandum is to inform members of some of the

practical steps that have been taken to implement the Committee’s recommendations from the above inquiry, since they were endorsed by the Parliament on 23 November last year.

2. New Rule 9B.3.4 requires notice of each legislative consent memorandum to be given in the Business Bulletin, and for the memorandum to be printed and published.

3. In practice, the relevant notices are printed in Section H of the Bulletin (New Documents). Printed copies are available from Document Supply, and electronic copies are posted on the website in a new section created within the “Parliamentary Business” channel:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/legConMem/index.htm

4. Each memorandum is given a unique Parliamentary reference number to enable it to be tracked through the scrutiny process. The numbering allows for the possibility of there sometimes being more than one memorandum lodged in relation to the same UK Parliament Bill.

5. The following legislative consent memorandums have been lodged since the new procedures recommended by the Committee came into effect:

• Executive memorandum on the Health Bill (LCM(S2) 1.1)

• Executive memorandum on the Company Law Reform Bill (LCM(S2) 2.1)

6. The website pages on which these memorandums are posted also provide convenient links to pages of the UK Parliament website where the relevant Bill and Explanatory Notes, and information about the stage the Bill is at in its scrutiny at Westminster, can be found. Information about the lead committee (once appointed), and to any legislative consent motions (once lodged) can also be added.

7. The main “legislative consent memorandums” home-page contains some general background about the Sewel Convention, and includes a link to the Committee’s report.



Proposed “Transport and Works” Bill

Note by the Clerk

1. The purpose of this note is to update members on recent developments with the above proposed Bill.

2. As members will recall, it was a principal recommendation of the Committee’s 4th Report, 2005 (Private Legislation) that the Executive should introduce a Bill to establish a new statutory mechanism for handling private legislation, based on the England and Wales Transport and Works Act 1992 but with additional Parliamentary oversight. A blueprint for the regime to be established by the Bill was set out in the 2nd working group report (Annexe C to the Report).

3. The First Minister announced in this year’s legislative programme statement that such a Bill would be introduced in time to complete its passage through the Parliament before dissolution. The Minister for Parliamentary Business has since repeated this commitment in evidence to the current inquiry.

4. Paragraph 52 of the Committee’s report said that:

“While we therefore expect the Executive to take the lead in developing a Bill for introduction, we hope that a degree of joint working in practice would allow the Committee to continue to contribute to the development of the new statutory model – reflecting the cooperative basis on which this inquiry has so far been conducted.”

5. It was in this connection that I attended a meeting recently with Frazer Henderson, the “Bill Team Leader” for the proposed Bill, and one of his colleagues. Also present were clerks from the Private Bills Unit and the Local Government and Transport Committee (expected to be the lead committee on the Bill).

6. Mr Henderson explained that the current intention was to publish a consultation paper in the latter part of January, seeking views on a number of specific aspects of the model proposed by the Committee in its report. A 12-week period will be allowed for responses.

7. The Executive’s intention is then to introduce the Bill before the summer recess 2006, with a view to completing Stage 1 by around November, Stage 2 by December or January 2007 and Stage 3 by around February. Given the time required to put in place the subordinate legislation and guidance material also required, this timetable should allow the new regime to be ready for operation from the beginning of Session 3.

8. The Bill is currently expected to consist of around 40 sections. Of these, the majority will put in place the new regime for handling applications for

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transport-based private legislation through Executive-made orders. There may also be a couple of minor provisions dealing with other transport-related matters.

9. The regime proposed by the Executive is also intended to mesh with the new National Planning Framework being proposed in the recently-introduced Planning Bill. It is envisaged that most major transport-infrastructure projects requiring private legislation would be covered by the NPF. The aim would be to ensure that, where possible, additional consents that may be required (e.g. listed building consent) could be included within the order made under the new TWA regime (rather than being dealt with separately, as at present) in order to stream-line the process.

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PR/S2/05/16/M


MINUTES

16th Meeting, 2005 (Session 2)

Tuesday 20 December 2005

Present: Mr Richard Baker Cathie Craigie Donald Gorrie (Convener) Bruce McFee

Chris Ballance Karen Gillon (Deputy Convener) Alex Johnstone

The meeting opened at 10.16 am. 1. Review of Parliamentary Time: The members who had taken part in a

recent visit to the Norwegian Parliament and a video conference with officials of the New Zealand Parliament reported back to the Committee. The Committee also agreed to consider, during the course of the inquiry, whether Rule 2.2 should be amended to facilitate meetings of the Parliament continuing later on Thursdays.

2. Work programme: The Committee considered its priorities for the early

part of 2006. In addition to the ongoing Review of Parliamentary Time, the Committee agreed to consider, at future meetings: options for amending Rule 12.2A so that, where a Member’s Bill is to be considered at a meeting of a committee of which the member-in-charge of the Bill is a member, a substitute may attend in that member’s place; amendments to Rule 9.18 recommended by the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill Committee in its Stage 1 Report on that Bill; and minor amendments to the Rules on motions and decisions.

3. Procedural Guidance: The Committee agreed revisions proposed by the

Private Bills Unit to the Guidance on Private Bills.

4. Private Bill Committee assessors (in private): The Committee agreed a revised draft report, subject to some further changes, and agreed draft standing order changes.

5. Procedures relating to Crown appointments (in private): The

Committee considered a revised draft report and draft standing order changes. Various changes to the draft report were agreed to; three proposed changes were disagreed to (by division). The Committee agreed not to finalise its report until the SPCB had been given an opportunity to comment on the proposal that an independent assessor be appointed to review a post-holder’s performance prior to any decision on re-appointment. Further consideration would also be given to whether to propose a Committee Bill to amend the relevant Acts in relation to third-term re-appointment, removal from office and directions as to the form and content of annual reports.

The meeting closed at 12.03 pm.

Andrew Mylne Clerk to the Committee