The Standing Orders Committee
The committee addresses matters related to the Constitutional Act of Denmark, including ministerial responsibilities and MPs’ legal immunity, the Danish Parliament’s standing orders, including its budget and Administration, scrutiny of State auditing and the secondary paid occupations of the Chair, ministers and auditors of public accounts. The committee comprises the Danish Parliament Presidium and 16 other members of the Danish Parliament.
Tasks and responsibilities
The Standing Orders Committee addresses bills and motions referred to it.
For example, amendments to:
- regulations governing the work of the Danish Parliament as stipulated in its standing orders
- cooperation between the Danish Parliament and the government
- regulations governing remuneration, pension and other benefits enjoyed by members of the Danish Parliament and Ministers
The Standing Orders of the Danish Parliament may also be amended on the initiative of the Committee itself. In practice, the committee is a forum for discussion of issues regarding the Danish Parliament’s methods of work, and the conditions under which its members conduct their political work. The Standing Orders Committee has other specific tasks and responsibilities.
Ministerial responsibility
The Standing Orders Committee addresses matters regarding ministers’ legal or political responsibility.
The committee also addresses matters regarding the setting up of commissions to investigate specific matters (commissions of inquiry). The Minister of Justice must set up an commission of inquiry if the Danish Parliament takes a decision to that effect. If the report of the commission in question addresses matters relating to Ministers – or former Ministers – the Standing Orders Committee decides if and how further action will be taken. The preparation of such decisions takes place in a permanent subcommittee of the Standing Orders Committee, which is comprised of one member from each party group represented on the Standing Orders Committee as well as the observers on the committee belonging to other party groups.
In addition, the Standing Orders Committee addresses recommendations from the Scrutiny Committee in matters of investigations with a special parliamentary connection. Such recommendations may pertain to the launch of investigations, including the setting up of commissions of scrutiny, or to the conclusions or new measures that an investigation should lead to.
MPs’ legal immunity
In pursuance of the Constitutional Act of Denmark, members of the Danish Parliament enjoy a special parliamentary immunity that protects them from:
- criminal prosecution, arrest and imprisonment
- liability for their utterances in the Danish Parliament
A member’s parliamentary immunity can only be lifted with the consent of the Danish Parliament, e.g. if the prosecutor believes that a member of the Danish Parliament is guilty of a punishable offence. The Standing Orders Committee addresses such cases and makes recommendations to the Danish Parliament, on which Parliament bases its decision.
Budget and staff
The Standing Orders Committee passes the parliament’s budget as its contribution to annual draft budget proposals. In certain fields, the committee is competent to reach decisions on personnel-related matters in the Administration of the Danish Parliament.
State auditing
The Standing Orders Committee has important competences in relation to the state auditing authorities (the Auditor General’s Office and the Auditors of Public Accounts). The committee determines how many state auditors to appoint, whether a state auditor may have concomitant occupations and responsibilities in other state institutions, etc. The committee also endorses appointments to the position of Auditor General, approves the Auditor General’s Office’s budget and determines certain personnel-related matters at the Auditor General’s Office. Finally, the committee sets the rules that the Auditor General’s Office must apply to case processing and publication following their presentation to the Auditors of Public Accounts.
Composition and work methods
The Standing Orders Committee comprises all members of the Danish Parliament Presidium and 16 other members of the Danish Parliament. As a rule, the party chairperson of each of the parties represented in the Danish Parliament is a member of the Standing Orders Committee. The Speaker of the Danish Parliament invariably chairs the committee and the First Deputy Speaker is the vice-chair.
The Standing Orders Committee does not have a regular meeting time each week. The Speaker calls members to attend a meeting as required. The committee does not normally make study trips and only exceptionally receives deputations, etc.