Quorum

38.22Standing Order No 124 provides that the quorum of a select committee shall be three or a quarter of the number of its nominated members, whichever is the greater, and in calculating the quorum fractions are to be counted as one. In determining whether a quorum of a select committee is present, the Chair is to be counted. The quorum of a sub-committee is frequently set in the order providing for its appointment (see para 38.42 ). A select committee or a sub-committee cannot proceed to business unless a quorum is present, and if, after a committee has proceeded to business, the number of members present should fall below the quorum, the Clerk of the committee is required to call the attention of the Chair to the fact, and the Chair must thereupon either suspend the proceedings till a quorum is present, or adjourn the committee to a future day.1

Where, under Standing Order No 137A, more than two committees (or sub-committees) meet together for purposes other than agreeing a draft report or agreeing a Chair, Standing Order No 124 provides that the quorum of each shall be two. The quorum of the Commons members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights is also two;2 the quorum set for the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (a joint committee) was also two members from each House, with a quorum of one (from either House) for sub-committees.3