A delegated legislation committee (DLC) is a general committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom that allows for debate of a statutory instrument, Church Measure, or other forms of delegated legislation which have been laid before the House of Commons. With respect to statutory instruments, it differs from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and Commons Select Committee on Statutory Instruments in that those committees only scrutinise certain technical aspects of them. By contrast, DLCs provide a forum for discussing the merits of proposed instruments. They do not approve or reject delegated legislation, but merely debate it on a motion "That this committee has considered" the legislation. A statutory instrument or measure debated in a DLC is not normally later debated on the House floor; rather, a vote is taken without debate if one is sought.

While any Member is allowed to attend and speak, a DLC is commonly composed of seventeen Members,^[1] though this can range between sixteen and fifty Members. Only the original members are allowed to vote.^[1]

As with other general committees, the Speaker appoints the chair, and the Committee of Selection appoints the other members. Any MP may participate in proceedings of a DLC, allowing all MPs an opportunity to debate pieces of delegated legislation, but only members of the committee may vote or are counted toward the quorum. Legislation is distributed among the committees by the Speaker, but a fresh committee is nominated for each instrument (or for a small group of related instruments). Statutory instruments under the affirmative procedure are automatically referred to a DLC.^[1]

DLC's were first set up as standing committees on statutory instruments in the 1973-1947 session, to alleviate the workload of the House. These were renamed at the beginning of the 1995-1996 session to standing committees on delegated legislation, and in 2006–2007 to delegated legislation committees.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d House of Commons Factsheet: Statutory Instruments, May 2008[1]

Current parliamentary committees of the United Kingdom

Commons

Departmental	Business and Trade Culture, Media and Sport Defence Education Energy Security and Net Zero Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Foreign Affairs Health and Social Care Home Affairs International Development Justice Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Northern Ireland Affairs Science, Innovation and Technology Scottish Affairs Transport Treasury Welsh Affairs Work and Pensions
Topical	Arms Export Controls Environmental Audit European Scrutiny Petitions Public Accounts Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Statutory Instruments Women and Equalities
General	Panel of Chairs Public bill committees Delegated legislation committees European committees Northern Ireland Grand Committee Regional Affairs Committee Scottish Grand Committee Welsh Grand Committee
Internal	Administration Finance Backbench Business Liaison Procedure Selection Standards Privileges Works of Art
Statutory	House of Commons Commission Administration Estimate Audit Members Estimate Members Estimate Audit Public Accounts Commission Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Lords

Topical	Communications and Digital Constitution Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Economic Affairs European Union International Agreements International Relations and Defence Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Science and Technology
Private	Hybrid Instruments Standing Orders
Internal	Lords Commission Finance Liaison Conduct Procedure and Privileges Selection
Domestic	Services Works of Art

Joint

Select	Consolidation Bills Human Rights National Security Strategy Statutory Instruments Tax Law Rewrite Bills
Statutory	Ecclesiastical Committee Intelligence and Security

See also

References