MPs' Guide to Procedure

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European scrutiny in the Lords

European scrutiny in the House of Lords is carried out mainly by the EU Select Committee—a cross-party committee with 19 members. It has six sub-committees, each dealing with different policy areas.

The EU Select Committee holds inquiries into cross-cutting issues such as EU enlargement or the role of national Parliaments. It conducts regular hearings with the Minister for Europe and one-off hearings with other people, including EU Commissioners.

The sub-committees conduct inquiries looking at their policy areas and scrutinise selected EU proposals in detail, asking questions and raising concerns in correspondence with UK ministers.

Whereas the Commons European Scrutiny Committee reports quickly on a wide range of documents the Lords Committee reports on a much smaller number of documents in greater detail.