Issues in Law Making - Briefing Paper 9: Joint Committees (Jun 2006)
Alex Brazier with Declan McHugh and Sam Lovett
ISBN 978 0900432 28 6
Available free via download
Ninth in our Issues in Law Making series of briefing papers that reviews key elements of the legislative process in the United Kingdom. Joint Committees looks at the role of joint committees in the parliamentary and legislative process and the various ways in which they are used. It is produced with the generous support of the Regulatory Group at the international legal services organisation DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary
Joint Committees provides a description and overview of the subject, including an outline of the many different types of joint committees. The paper also covers temporary, or ad hoc, committees which bring together MPs and Peers to undertake certain specific functions. It also looks at examples where select committees come together to carry out joint work.
The paper looks at options for reform of joint committees and concludes that joint committees and other forms of collaboration between select committees in each, and in both, Houses represent an important model for improving the work of Parliament and, where applicable, their use should be promoted and supported by Members and Peers.