Select committees SCRUTINY

Question 1

What are the methods of scrutiny

Answer 1

• select committees
• written and oral questions
• early day motions
• adjournment debates
• urgent questions
• PMQS

Question 2

what are select committees

Answer 2

Departmental select committees are committees set up in 1979 to scrutinise the policy, expenditure and administration of each government department

there are currently 20 DSC such as the home affairs select committee

Question 3

What are the advantages of select committees 1.

Answer 3

• They can conduct inquiries into government departments and produce reports that the government have to respond within 60 days
• They have the power to send for persons, papers and records and can issue a summons.
• They have a longer life than Public bill committees as they are permanent Chairs elected by parliament and are paid an extra £15000
• Their meetings are televised meaning high media coverage

Question 4

What are the advantages of select committees 2.

Answer 4

• Power to review government appointments of heads of Quangos like OFSTED
• Seen as the best scrutiny method
• Act on a less partisan basis
• One for every government department

Question 5

What are the disadvantages of select committees 1.

Answer 5

• Can be difficult to get consensus and might lead to avoiding contentious issues due to working on bi-partisanship basis.
• Power to compel witnesses is weak as ministers can refuse to attend with little expertise to critically assess
• witnesses can refuse to give information or can be difficult, they can be in contempt of parliament if they dont show up but they can say they have no information
• Dont call for a diverse range of witnesses
• Government can refuse to implement the suggestions in reports

Question 6

What are Departmental select committees

Answer 6

• They are a cross-party group of Mps that scrutinise government departments
• There are currently 19 DSC consisting of 11-14 members with expertise in the area
• They exist for the life of parliament (up to 10 years)

Question 7

What is an example of a DSC requesting a formal summons

Answer 7

In 2011 Rupert murdoch, chairman of news international, couldn’t a hearing issued by the culture, media and sports committee and was issued a formal summons to appear on the 19th of July 2011

Question 8

One strength. Part One

Answer 8

One weakness of departmental select committees is that ministers and civil servants might not provide much information when questioned by a committee and access to sensitive material can be denied on grounds of national security.

Question 9

One strength. Part Two

Answer 9

This is a weakness as the committees cannot force a witness to answer questions posed to them. If a witness deliberately gives vague or misleading answers, they cannot be sanctioned, as committees hold no such power.

Question 10

One strength. Part Three

Answer 10

An example of this is when the culture, media and sports select committee couldn’t do more than strongly criticize Tom Crone and Colin Myler for misleading the committee over phone hacking during the committee’s inquiry into press standards in 2009-2010.

Question 11

Second Strength. Part One

Answer 11

A second weakness is while the government must issue a formal response on recommendations made within the committees within 60 days, they aren’t obliged to accept those recommendation, a study done by the constitution unit in 2011 found that the government don’t accept up to 60% of recommendations.

Question 12

Second strength. Part two

Answer 12

This is a weakness as departmental select committees don’t have the power to enforce decisions and recommendations with economics professor George Jones stating that committees “serve little purpose with no means of forcing the government to act on their recommendations.

Question 13

What did the 2010 wright reforms change

Answer 13

It added legitimacy to the selection process as chairs of these committees were no longer chosen by whips but instead an independent appointments commission adding indepence into debates allowing them to work a bipartisan basis

Question 14

what does bipartisan mean

Answer 14

this is where 2 opposing parties work together and find common ground

Question 15

Why was the wright reform introduced

Answer 15

There were concerns as to how willing those from the government party may have been to question/criticise the government policy especially since their career advancement is within the party.
The wright reform was introduced in 2010 to protect those involved in each committee.

Question 16

What did the wright reform change

Answer 16

• Up until 2010, WHIPs chose the committee chairs and nominated committee members. This was changed and led to the direct election of most chairs by the whole house of commons and elections of committee members within each party, this causes the chair to have cross-party support
• The 60% attendance rule was created, this causes the role to be taken more seriously causing deeper involvement and understanding.
• Members of departmental select committees were elected by the party for membership meaning that members were no longer answerable to the whips

Question 17

How effective was the wright reform (1)

Answer 17

• According to Tom Shakespeare, Direct election of committee chairs and members had a positive effect on committee membership as they have cross-party support and don’t have to please a Whip. They have freedom to critic government departments due to this.

Question 18

How effective was the wright reform (2)

Answer 18

• Furthermore, due to the direct election of committee chairs by the whole house and committee members rather than the whips has enabled there to be more expertise in the committees.
• Direct election also empowered chairs to be innovative with Graham Allen, chair of the political and constitutional reform committee, campaign for the introduction of a written constitution.

Question 19

What is an example of a witness being questioned being difficult

Answer 19

Mike Ashley owner of sports direct was forced to attend the business, innovation and skills committee in 2016 to be questioned on working conditions but he was dismissive and rude throughout.

Question 20

what is an example of select committees being positive

Answer 20

the home affairs committee report on the windrush scandal concluded in the resignation of amber rudd as well as a hardship fund for people effected by the scanndal