2.4 Flashcards
Committees: What is a Public Bill Committee? How are members appointed? How effective are they?
-They are created in response to proposed bills, to scrutinise & amend that specific bill.
-The chairperson is voted for by the whole of the Commons.
-They are quite effective, as they are ad hoc & for that specific bill.
-The chair also get a pay bonus for chairing, so they would likely be influenced to do a good job.
Committees: What is the Public Accounts Committee? Who is on the Committee?
-Their purpose is to examine public finances. They hold government & the civil service to account for the delivery of public services.
-It is currently chaired by Meg Hillier, Labour MP. There are 16 members total: 8 Con, 5 Lab, 1 SNP, 1 PC, 1 LD.
-The chair is always a member of the opposition party & members are elected by the whole of Commons.
Committees: How effective is the PAC? Give an example of PAC investiation.
-Chair, again, receives a higher salary so is further committed to the efficacy of the committee.
-The committee, due to its membership, is above party politics. This makes it far more effective at scrutinising government finances.
-They can call senior civil servants to give evidence.
-Has led many successful investigations, like in 2019 when their inquiry into serious & organised crime resulted in 6000 extra police.
Committees: What are Departmental Select Committees? What is membership like?
-Made up of 19 committees that investigate the work of each government department. They provide unanimous reports & call witnesses to give recommendations.
-Membership is between 11-14 MPs, chairs can be from any party, even small parties have a scattering of members.
Committees: How effective are DSC at scrutiny? Give an example of an investigation.
-Cross-party whips appoint the chairs, which means there is a lack of party politics.
-In recent years, they have become more focused on matters of public interest, rather than just government performance.
-However, the governing party normally has a majority in the committees, which does limit their ability to scrutinise.
-The 2018 Home Affairs Investigation did not amount to much. It recommended that an apology be administered, but (as of 2020) none had been given.
Committees: What is the Liaison Committee? How often do they meet? Who are its members? Is it effective?
-A committee made up of the chairs of all the select committees, that meets twice a year to scrutinise the PM.
-They are, on the whole, pretty ineffective. Johnson cancelled many of his planned appearances & they fail to take actual action.
Committees: What is the Backbench Business Committee? Why was it introduced? Who are its members?
-This committee was set up as a part of the 2010 Wright Reforms, to decide which issues should be debated during backbench day.
-It is made up of elected, backbench, MPs.
-They decide on the debates using a variety of sources, like e-petitions, from MP requests, or local campaigns.
Committees: How effective are the BBC?
-Their most successful work was in 2011, when their debate regarding the Hillsborough Disaster, resulted in an inquest & previously secret papers to be released.
-On the whole, though, they tend not to be super effective. Their debates are contained to one day a week, so have little actual time.
Opposition: Provide some arguments that the opposition are effective.
-There are 20 scheduled opposition days, where they are allowed debated.
-The minority government of 2017 greatly strengthened the role of the opposition (which did, however, mean Parliament was incredibly ineffective).
-Opposition defends the interests of those who feel they are ignored by gov, increasing representation.
-Leaders of the opposition are present at ceremonial functions to ensure variety of political opinion.
-Diane Abbot’s work for the Windrush Scandal in 2018, was incredibly effective.
Opposition: Provide some arguments that the opposition are ineffective.
-They are only given 20 days for debate which, realistically, is not that any. Moreover, these debates tend to be fairly unsuccessfully.
-Only one opposition since 1978 has been successful. This was in 2009 when a LD motion condemned refusal to guarantee residency rights to Gurkha Veterans. 27 Labour MPs voted against party line.
Questioning: Provide some arguments that the questioning is effective
-PMQs are regular, and are televised, which exposes them to media/public. The leader of the opposition is also reserved 6 questions.
-‘Questions to Ministers Days’ provide scrutiny to every minister.
-Ministers have to reply to these questions within a week (two weeks for written questions).
Questioning: Provide some arguments that the questioning is ineffective.
-PMQs are sometimes referred to as ‘Gardener’s Question Time’, as so many questions are planted to make the PM appear better.
-Questions to Ministers days have been largely eclipsed by Select Committees.
-More junior ministers can be sent in the place of the senior minister.
-Notice of questions are usually given, so they have time to prepare answers.
Questioning: What are urgent questions? Who grants them? How often are they given?
-These are questions posed by backbench MPs that Ministers are forced to respond to, if they are deemed important enough.
-This is decided by the Speaker. The Speaker can then demand that a Minister attend Commons and answer the questions (as well as follow-ups). They, however, cannot compel a specific minister.
-The number given is entirely dependent on the speaker, as Michael Martin gave, on average) 0.02 per sitting day, while Bercow gave 0.88 per sitting day.
Backbenchers: How does the size of executive majority affect the powers of backbenchers? Give some examples of this.
-The larger the majority, the less influential backbenchers are.
-In 2003, 139 Labour Backbenchers rebelled against the Iraq War, but Blair’s majority was so large that he still won the vote.
-However, in 2005, when the majority had reduced and 49 MPs rebelled, Blair lost the divison.
Backbenchers: What did Yvette Cooper do? How does this show the power of backbenchers?
-By 2019, May’s Brexit deal had been defeated three times.
-Cooper put forward a Private Member’s Bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit. This law was passed in April 2019.
-This was despite 68% of her constituency voting to leave.
-This demonstrates that, especially in heated and divisive climates, the role of backbenchers massively increases.
