European Affairs

That is a very sound request and I hope the Government have listened to it. I am not sure that that facility does not already exist. I would hope that our diplomatic and foreign services are helping countries as they approach membership of the EU, and then afterwards when they are in it. From the parliamentary point of view, we have warmly welcomed the fact that our Clerks often go to countries that wish to enter, particularly to look at how they scrutinise and deal with European business. Having returned yesterday from Madrid, I have to say that we are the envy of most other countries, where scrutiny does not exist in the way it does here. I will give a few pieces of evidence from the material I am drafting for our annual report. In our Committee, we have dealt with more than 920 documents coming from the EU. We have written reports, 456 of which have been published online and also given to this Parliament. We have referred 72 of those documents for debate in our European Committees, and we have called for, and had, debates on the Floor of the House on four occasions in the past year. Apart from those that claim to be mandating Parliaments—those of Sweden, Finland and Denmark—I do not think any other Parliament can show a better track record on Government scrutiny.