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Lord Vinson asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How many times since its inclusion in the Maastricht Treaty the subsidiarity principle has been used successfully to ensure that powers remain with the United Kingdom and are not transferred to the institutions of the European Union. [HL3469]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman):

Article 5 of the treaty establishing European Community (TEC) states:
“In areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community.”

Subsidiarity should be seen in the wider context as a general principle which underpins the operation of the European institutions.

The institutions take account of subsidiarity when acting under the TEC, and in this respect subsidiarity has positively influenced the EU’s overall direction.
The Government believe that further progress can be made, particularly in strengthening the role of national parliaments in EU decision-making.

So obviously the proper answer is none otherwise the government would be able to tell us how many times.

At the Convention which drafted the Constitution David Heathcoat-Amory said :

In section A-9 of the draft Constitution, it states that “National Parliaments shall ensure compliance with the subsidiarity principle”. This implies a power to do so.

But the Protocol only grants a request. A draft law would then have to be reviewed, but if the Commission wishes it can then proceed. So we must bring the Protocol into line with A-9 if we are to be consistent.