Examiners

Examiners

69 Appointment of Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills (HC 69)

There shall be one or more officers of this House, to be called “The Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills,” who shall be appointed by the House.

70 Date of commencement of examination of petitions for bills (HC 71)

(1) The examination of the petitions for private bills, copies of which bills have been  deposited  in  accordance with the provisions of Standing Order 38 (Deposit of printed copies of bills in Parliament Office), shall commence on 18th December.

(2) If that day is a Saturday or a Sunday, the examination shall commence on 20th or 19th December, as the case may be.

71 Notice of examination of petitions for bills (HC 72)

The Examiner shall give not less than seven clear days' notice in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments of the day appointed for the examination of petitions for private bills.

72 Certificate as to petition (HC 70)

(1) The Examiner shall in the case of each petition for a bill—
       (a) certify whether the standing orders have or have not been complied with, and
       (b) when they have not been complied with, report the facts upon which his decision is founded, and any 
            special circumstances connected with the case.

(2) Such a certificate shall be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments.

73 Petitions for additional provisions (HC 73, 166A)

(1) A petition for additional provision in a private bill—
       (a) shall be signed by the petitioner and shall have annexed thereto a printed copy of the provisions proposed 
            to be added, and
       (b) shall require the sanction of the Chairman of Committees before it is deposited in the office of the Clerk of 
            the Parliaments.

The agent concerned for any such petition  which  has been so deposited shall supply prints of such proposed provision on payment, to all parties interested who may apply therefor.

(2) No such petition shall be received in the case of a bill brought from the House of Commons.

(3) Every such petition with the proposed additions annexed shall, except when it relates to a personal bill, be referred to the Examiners, and the Examiner—
       (a) shall certify whether the standing orders have or have not been complied with, and
       (b) when they have not been complied with, shall report the facts upon which his decision is founded and any 
            special circumstances connected with the case.

Such a certificate shall be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments.

(4) Where provisions which were not contained in the bill as introduced into Parliament are sought to be inserted upon any such petition, the original notices shall not be held to apply to the additional provision proposed to be inserted.

(5) The Examiner shall give not less than two clear days' notice in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments of the day on which the petition will be examined.

74 Examination of bills brought from House of Commons, etc. (HC 74)

(1) Bills brought from the House of Commons, unless they are personal bills, after having been read the first time shall be referred to the Examiners, and the Examiner—
       (a) shall certify whether such standing orders as have not been previously inquired into have or have not been 
            complied with, and
       (b) when they have not been complied with, shall report the facts upon which his decision is founded, and any 
            special circumstances connected with the case.

(2) Such a certificate shall be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments.

(3) The Examiner shall give not less than two clear days' notice in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments of the day on which any such bill will be examined.

75 Bills brought from House of Commons may be referred to Examiners in respect of amendments made in this House

Where in any private bill brought from the House of Commons amendments are made during its progress through this House the bill shall, if the Chairman of Committees thinks fit, be referred to the Examiners to consider and report whether the standing orders have been complied with in respect of the  amendments.

76 Memorials complaining of non-compliance with standing orders (HC 75)

(1) Any parties shall be entitled to appear and to be heard by themselves or their agents upon a memorial addressed to the Examiners and signed by those parties or their agents complaining of a non-compliance with the standing orders if—
       (a) the matter complained of is specifically stated in the memorial, and
       (b) the party (if any) who may be specially affected by the non-compliance  with  the  standing orders or his 
            agent has signed the memorial and has not withdrawn his signature.

(2) In reference to petitions for additional provision in private bills and to bills brought from the House of Commons, the Examiner shall be at liberty to entertain such memorial, although neither the party (if any) who may be specially affected by the non-compliance with the standing orders nor his agent has signed it.

77 Right of audience before Examiner of proprietors dissenting at meeting under Standing Orders 62 to 67 (HC 76)

Any proprietor or member of any company, society, association or partnership who has by himself, or by any person authorised to act for him in that behalf, dissented at any meeting called in pursuance of Standing Orders 62 to 67, shall be entitled to appear and be heard by himself or his agent upon a memorial addressed to the Examiners and signed by him or his agent complaining of non-compliance with any of those standing orders.

78 Deposit of memorials in Parliament Office (HC 76)

Every memorial  complaining  of  non-compliance  with the standing orders in respect of any bill referred to the Examiners—
       (a) after first or second reading, or
       (b) by direction of the Chairman of Committees, or
       (c) in respect of any petition for additional provision, or
       (d) in respect of any petition for leave to bring in a bill which is deposited in this House,
shall, together with two copies thereof for the use of the Examiners, be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments before noon on the day  preceding  the day first appointed for the examination of the bill or petition in question.

79 Withdrawal of memorials (HC 76A)

Any memorialist may withdraw his memorial, on a requisition to that effect being deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments, signed by him or his agent; and where any such memorial is deposited by or on behalf of more than one person, any of those persons may withdraw from the memorial by a similar requisition, signed and deposited as aforesaid.

80 Proof by affidavit (HC 77)

The Examiner may admit affidavits in proof of the compliance with the standing orders.

81 Examiner to make special report in certain cases (HC 79)

If the Examiner feels doubt as to the due construction of any standing order in its application to a particular case, he shall make a special report of the facts, without deciding whether the standing order has or has not been complied with: such special report to be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments.

82 Certificates and special reports to be laid on table

All certificates and special reports from the Examiners shall be laid on the table on the first sitting day after the deposit of the same in the office of the Clerk of the  Parliaments.

Public bills ordered to be examined by the Examiners

83 Examination of public bills by Examiners (HC 224)

(1) Where a public bill (not being a bill to confirm a provisional order) is whilst pending in this House referred to the Examiners with respect to the applicability thereto of the standing orders of this House, the Examiner—
       (a) shall certify, and
       (b) in the case of a bill originating in this House, shall have leave to report to the House of Commons (if that 
            House thinks fit so to order),
whether any of the standing orders, compliance with which in the case of a private bill is to be proved before one of the Examiners, are applicable to the bill and, if applicable, whether or not they have been complied  with.

(2) The Examiner shall give not less than two clear days' notice in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments of the day on which the bill will be examined.

(3) Any parties shall be entitled to appear and to be heard by themselves or their agents upon a memorial addressed to the Examiners and signed by those parties or their agents alleging that the standing orders are applicable to the bill and have not been complied with, if the matter complained of is specifically stated in the memorial, and the party (if any) who may be specially affected by the non-compliance with the standing orders or his agent has signed such memorial and has not withdrawn his signature thereto.

(4) Where any such bill originating in the House of Commons is whilst pending in that House ordered to be examined by the Examiners with respect to the applicability thereto of the standing orders of that House, the Examiner shall, if that House gives him leave so to do, certify whether any such standing orders as aforesaid are applicable to the bill and, if applicable, whether or not they have been complied with.

(5) Standing Orders 82 (Certificates and special reports to be laid on table) and 87 (Reference to Standing Orders Committee of reports from Examiner of non-compliance with standing orders, etc.) shall, so far as applicable, apply to certificates from the Examiner under this order in like manner as they apply to certificates and special reports from the Examiner in relation to private bills.

83A Comments on environmental statement (HC 224A)

(1) This order applies to any government bill in relation to which the Examiner decides Standing  Orders  4  to  68 are applicable and in relation to which an environmental statement is required to be deposited under Standing Order 27A.

(2) In this order—

“the relevant Minister” means the Minister of the Crown with responsibility for the  bill;

“the environmental statement”means the environmental information originally deposited by the relevant Minister in relation to the bill for the purpose of Standing Order 27A;

“supplementary environmental information” means any additional  environmental  information  deposited by the  relevant  Minister,  after  the  deposit  of the  environmental  statement,  to  supplement that statement for the purpose of meeting the requirements of any EU Directive relating to environmental assessment.

(3) The notice published under Standing Order 10 in relation to the bill shall state that any person who wishes to make comments on the environmental statement should send them to the  relevant  Minister  in  such  manner  and  on or before such date as shall be specified by the relevant Minister in the notice, that date being no earlier than the 56th day after the first publication of the notice.

(4) For the purpose of Standing Order 83 paragraph (3) shall be treated as one of the Standing Orders compliance with which must be examined by the Examiner.

(5) The relevant Minister shall, in such form as may be specified by the Examiner, publish and deposit in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments any comments received by him in accordance with this order and shall also submit those comments to the independent assessor appointed under paragraph (6) below. The relevant Minister shall deposit a certificate in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments setting out the date on which all comments have been received by the independent assessor.

(6)   (a) If the bill originated in this House and if comments are received on the environmental statement in 
             accordance with this order—
                  (i) a report shall be prepared by an independent assessor summarising the issues raised by those 
                      comments;
                  (ii) the Examiner shall appoint the independent assessor within the period for commenting on the 
                       environmental statement prescribed by paragraph (3);
                  (iii) the assessor shall be instructed to prepare the report within such period as the Examiner shall 
                       specify, the end of that period being no earlier than the 28th day after the date certified by the 
                       relevant Minister, in accordance with paragraph (5) above, as the date on which the assessor 
                       received all of the comments from the relevant Minister;
                  (iv) before specifying a period in accordance with sub-sub-paragraph (iii) above, the Examiner shall 
                        consult the relevant Minister on the length of this period;
                  (v) the Examiner shall submit the report of the assessor to the House.
       (b) If a report is submitted to the House in accordance with sub-paragraph (a)(v), the Examiner has leave to 
            submit the report of the assessor to the House of Commons.

(7) If paragraph (6) is applied, the bill shall not receive a second reading until  at  least  14  days  after  the  report of the independent assessor on the comments on the environmental statement has been submitted to the House.

(8) If any supplementary environmental information is deposited in relation to the bill—
       (a) it shall be prefaced with a statement that the information is being deposited as supplementary information 
            under this order;
       (b) the requirements of Standing Order 27A in relation to the deposit of copies of the environmental statement 
            shall apply to the supplementary environmental information;
       (c) copies of the supplementary environmental information shall be made available for inspection and sale at 
            the offices and in the manner prescribed by Standing Order 27A(5);
       (d) notice shall be published in accordance with Standing Order 10 (save in respect of dates) stating that any 
            person who wishes to make  comments on the supplementary environmental information should send them 
            to the relevant Minister in such manner and within such period as may be specified in the notice, the end 
            of that period being no earlier than the 42nd day after the date of the first publication of the notice;
       (e) paragraphs (5) and (6) shall have effect in relation to any comments received on any supplementary 
            environmental information deposited  in  this House as they apply to comments received on the 
            environmental statement and irrespective of the bill's House of origin;
       (f) the Examiner shall examine and report to the House whether or not paragraphs (8)(a) to (d) have been 
            complied with and Standing Order 83 shall apply to that examination;
       (g) the bill shall not receive a third reading in this House or, if supplementary environmental information has 
            been submitted before second reading, second reading in this House until at least 14 days after the 
            assessor's report on the comments on the supplementary environmental information has been submitted 
            to the House.

(9) At third reading of the bill the relevant Minister shall set out—
       (a) the main reasons and considerations upon which Parliament is invited to give consent to the project to be 
            authorised by the bill;
       (b) the main measures to avoid, reduce and, if possible, offset the major adverse effects of the project.

A written statement setting out this information shall be laid before this House not less than 7 days before third reading.

(10) The costs of the assessor and also the costs of the process of appointing an assessor, incurred by the House by virtue of paragraphs (6) and (8)(e), shall be reimbursed by the government.

(11) For the avoidance of doubt, any supplementary environmental information accompanying an amendment to a bill which, if the bill were a private bill, would  require a petition for an additional provision shall be subject to paragraph (8) and not paragraph (3) or (7).