P2 - Parliamentary Scrutiny

Question 1

What does Parliament require ministers and the PM to do

Answer 1

answer questions by backbenchers in the Commons

Question 2

why is the PM forced to be well informed about policy and the wider news

Answer 2

PMQs

Question 3

what does PMQs provide

Answer 3

it gives the leader of the opposition the chance to ask several questions

Question 4

How has PMQs been used well to scrutinise

Answer 4

in 2017, Jeremy Corbyn used PMQs to effectively overturn the premium-rate number used to call Universal Credit

Question 5

What can the speaker do to allow the Commons to demand the attendance of relevant ministers

Answer 5

raise urgent questions

Question 6

what is the issue with PMQs

Answer 6

it is political theatre rather than proper scrutiny

Question 7

how does the PM benefit from PMQs

Answer 7

many questions come from ‘friendly’ government backbenchers

Question 8

What is PMQs an example of

Answer 8

punch and Judy politics, with MPs, jeering and shouting in a highly childish manner

Question 9

What happens to a bill after its second reading

Answer 9

It reaches the committee stage

Question 10

what is formed to scrutinise a bill and consider any amendments

Answer 10

public bills committees

Question 11

when were public bills committees strengthened

Answer 11

2007

Question 12

what is the issue with public bill committees

Answer 12

they are far less independent than select committees as their membership is still dominated by party whips

Question 13

why are some amendments not accepted

Answer 13

they may be contrary to a majority government’s wishes

Question 14

what can the commons do in extreme circumstances

Answer 14

a vote of no confidence

Question 15

What do individual MPs do

Answer 15

draw attention to grievances of constituents

Question 16

what do select committees reflect and what does it mean

Answer 16

they reflect the composition of the Commons, so a government will also have a majority on the committee

Question 17

What do select committees have the power to send for

Answer 17

persons, papers and records

Question 18

why do the Commons no longer control the composition of the committees

Answer 18

the Wright Report

Question 19

What is good about the select committee questioning

Answer 19

they have an interrogative style of questioning and witnesses have no notice of questioning

Question 20

What is good about committee members

Answer 20

they tend to be independently minded, so feel freer to be critical

Question 21

How do select committees attract career and independently minded politicians

Answer 21

chairs of committees get paid well

Question 22

what do select committees reports get

Answer 22

a lot of publicity, especially when they are critical

Question 23

What is an example of select committee success

Answer 23

Margaret Hodge and Public Accounts Committee who, in 2013 held Amazon, Starbucks and Google to account for the limited tax they pay in the UK.

Question 24

what is the issue with select committee reviewal

Answer 24

it happens after problems have occurred and criticise the government for this

Question 25

What is a limitation of select committees

Answer 25

the government is not obliged to act upon the recommendations of select committees

Question 26

what is the imbalance between MPs and ministers

Answer 26

MPs have very little research support whilst ministers have much more

Question 27

what factors affect whether the opposition is able to scrutinise the executive

Answer 27

size and unity of the governing party and the length of time the government has been in office

Question 28

What can the opposition influence

Answer 28

the popularity and power of a government

Question 29

what are the two most important oppositions

Answer 29

the Blair Opposition (1994-97) was very effective in highlighting the weaknesses in the Major government
the Cameron Opposition (2005-10) managed to underline divisions in there final years of the Labour government