HOUSE OF COMMONS

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

taken before the

STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE

on the

HIGH SPEED RAIL (CREWE – MANCHESTER) BILL

Tuesday 12 September 2023

Before:

Rt Hon. Dame Rosie Winterton MP, First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Chair)

Jessica Morden MP

Lia Nici MP

Liz Twist MP

Justin Leslie, Counsel for Domestic Legislation, in attendance

PAUL IRVING, of WINCKWORTH SHERWOOD, appeared as Parliamentary Agent for the Bill.

1.                   CHAIR: Order. First of all, would any Members like to declare a particular interest in the Bill? No.

2.                   I would like to welcome Mr Paul Irving, the representative from the parliamentary agent of the Bill’s promoter, Winckworth Sherwood. Mr Irving, could I ask you to to begin by talking us through those Standing Orders where non-compliance was found?

3.                   PAUL IRVING: Good morning, and thank you. I believe you have the note that we prepared that sets out the Standing Orders that have not been complied with and the reasons why we are seeking a dispensation from those Standing Orders. I was not intending to go through it in any further detail, but if you would like me to, of course I will.

4.                   CHAIR: If you could just perhaps outline it. I believe the basic issue is that some notification was given earlier than required.

5.                   PAUL IRVING: Yes. These are all Standing Orders which require things to be done by a certain date in connection with the deposit of a Bill. It covers a lot of things like newspaper notices, serving notices on landowners, and submitting copies of the various plans and the Bill for inspection at various places. The timing requirements on those are all based on what happens with a private Bill, which is submitted at a particular time of the year. None of those requirements can be complied with in relation to a hybrid Bill. I am afraid that every time we have introduced a Bill or hybrid Bill or introduced amendment to it, we have had to go through this process and trouble your Committee with seeking a dispensation.

6.                   This is entirely a technical non-compliance. There will not be anybody who has been prejudiced by this, because although the actual dates differ, the time periods for which, for instance, things are made available for inspection have been maintained. So it is simply the start date of these various things that we have not complied with. On that basis—that it was not possible to comply with the requirements and nobody has been prejudiced by our non-compliance—we are asking for a dispensation from the timing requirements of those Standing Orders.

7.                   CHAIR: Thank you; that is very helpful, particularly for Liz Twist, who was not here for the private bit of the meeting. I am anxious that she is clear about the technical nature and the fact that, rather than being late, it was early, so thank you. Do any Members have any questions? No—okay.

8.                   Thank you, Mr Irving. Could I ask you and all members of the public now to wait outside the room? We will call you back in once we have reached a decision.

The Committee adjourned to deliberate in private from 12.10 pm to 12.13 pm.

9.                   CHAIR: The Committee has reached its decision on this matter. We have resolved that Standing Orders 4, 4A, 10, 10A, 11, 12, 12A, 13, 27, 27A, 34, 36, 39, 41, 45 and 47 ought to be dispensed with. Thank you for your attendance. Order.