Download or read book Improving the effectiveness of parliamentary scrutiny a Select committee amendments b Explanatory statements on amendments c Written parliamentary questions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-09 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report builds on work undertaken in the previous Parliament. It contains three sets of recommendations which share a common aim of improving the effectiveness of parliamentary scrutiny. Firstly the Committee recommends that select committees be allowed to table in their own amendments to bills and motions on the floor of the House. Secondly it is recommended that during this Parliament Members and opposition spokespeople be encouraged to table explanatory statements on amendments to bills and that the Government use this facility to provide explanatory statements to clarify the origin of amendments and new clauses proposed on report. Thirdly the Committee recognises that whilst written parliamentary questions are a vital part of parliamentary scrutiny, there is a danger that their value is being eroded by the record numbers being tabled which also imposes significant costs on the public purse. The Committee therefore proposes a three month trial of applying a daily quota of five and an earlier deadline of 6.30 pm from Monday to Thursday and 2.30 pm on sitting Fridays to questions for written answer submitted electronically. They also recommend that, to assist Members, the Government deliver all answers to parliamentary questions to the Member concerned by email at the same time as the answer is delivered to the House

Download or read book Improving the Effectiveness of Parliamentary Scrutiny a Select Committee Amendments b Explanatory Statements on Amendments c Written Parliamentary Questions written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Procedure Committee and published by . This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government response to HC 800, session 2010-11 (ISBN 9780215556783)

Download or read book Explanatory Statements on Amendments written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-02-25 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this report the Procedure Committee invites the House to expand the tabling of explanatory statements on amendments to all bills at both Committee and Report stage from the start of the 2013-14 Session. Explanatory statements enhance MPs' ability to scrutinise legislation, unpacking complex or technical amendments and so opening up the legislative process to the wider public, as well as providing greater focus for Members' arguments during debates. There have been several previous pilots of explanatory statements. During the current session, MPs have been permitted to table explanatory statements to two bills. Having evaluated the pilot on the basis of criteria agreed between the Committee and the Leader of the House, the Committee concludes that the time has come to end the experimental approach and allow the culture of explanatory statements to embed itself, in a permissive environment where space is provided to backbench Members, the Government and the Opposition to ensure that explanatory statements become an accepted norm of the legislative process. The Committee considered the possibility of imposing a mandatory requirement at some or all stages, but concluded that to do so would risk restricting Opposition and backbench MPs from tabling amendments and would therefore be damaging to the House's ability to scrutinise legislation.

Download or read book Monitoring written Parliamentary questions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-05-08 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In October 2010 the Committee in response to a report by its predecessor committee began a trial exercise in monitoring unsatisfactory and late answers to written Parliamentary questions. With just over 50 complaints from Members in response to the exercise of which half were followed up. This resulted in answers for Members on a number of occasions in circumstances where they would otherwise have found difficult or impossible to follow up on an inadequate response. The exercise will now come to an end and be put on a more permanent footing.In consideration of a memorandum from the Leader of the House providing statistics on the time taken to respond to WPQs in 2010-12, the committee has sought explanations from Ministers in charge of poorly performing departments for the level of performance in the memorandum and what steps are being taken to improve these levels. The Department for Education had a particularly poor performance and evidence was taken from the Parliamentary Under Secretary and a senior official in the Department which the Committee found unsatisfactory with and so a follow up session with the Permanent Secretary and Secretary of State was undertaken. The Committee will continue its interest in the answering performance of this Department and hold it to further account should its performance not improve markedly.

Download or read book E tabling of parliamentary questions for written answer written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 13 October 2011 the House agreed to a 3-month experiment with restrictions on the number of questions which could be tabled electronically on any one day and an earlier deadline for their submission. The Table Office has provided the Committee with a memorandum assessing the impact of those changes, and recommending that the experiment be made permanent. The Committee, therefore agree with the Table Office's conclusions and recommend that the restrictions on e-tabling which have been piloted should continue. The Committee also recommends that the consequent upgrade to the e-tabling system include improvements such as the introduction of a basket in which to keep PQs prior to their submission, if and when they prove technically feasible.

Download or read book Statements by Members who Answer on Behalf of Statutory Bodies written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Standing Orders and the practice of the House enable Ministers to make written and oral statements to the House on matters of public importance. That facility is not available to Members who answer in the House on behalf of statutory bodies which are not subject to direct Ministerial accountability such as the House of Commons Commission and the Church Commissioners. Consequently contrivances such as a "planted" written question or an agreed urgent question are necessary in circumstances where an announcement is to be made to the House. The Committee considered whether arrangements might be put in place to enable, in appropriate circumstances, Members answering in the House on behalf of statutory bodies to make written and oral statements. They recommend that the necessary amendments be made to Standing Order No. 22A to enable those Members to make written statements and that those Members who are for the time being on the rota for oral questions should be enabled, on being granted permission in advance by the Speaker, to make an oral statement to the House

Download or read book HC 1121 Matters for the Procedure Committee in the 2015 Parliament written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Procedure and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book E tabling of Written Questions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 13 October 2011 the House agreed to a 3-month experiment with restrictions on the number of questions which could be tabled electronically on any one day and an earlier deadline for their submission. The Table Office has provided us with a memorandum assessing the impact of those changes, and recommending that the experiment be made permanent.

Download or read book Review of the Backbench Business Committee written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-11-22 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Additional written evidence is contained in Vol. 2, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/proccom

Download or read book Debates on Government E petitions in Westminster Hall written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-04-22 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In July 2012, the House agreed to allow debates on Government e-petitions to take place on Mondays in Westminster Hall, on a trial basis during the current session. Three debates have taken place during the session, with a fourth scheduled on the day of publication of this report (22 April 2013). The Government's e-petitions website continues to be popular, and a dedicated slot in Westminster Hall on Monday afternoon provides a clear end-point for the process. The Procedure Committee agrees with the Backbench Business Committee that the trial has been successful and recommends that the temporary changes to the Standing Orders be made permanent.

Download or read book How Our Laws are Made written by John V. Sullivan and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book HC 236 Business In Westminster Hall written by and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's proposal of the introduction of an hour-long debating slot in Westminster Hall-in place of one of the current half-hour slots-is intended to provide a further timing option when applying for a debate and enable the participation of a larger number of Members. The Committee also recommends that the Monday e-petition debates and Thursday select committee and backbench business sittings be swapped to avoid the current clash of backbench business on a Thursday between the main chamber and Westminster Hall. The trial of allocation of one 90-minute debate slot by the Backbench Business Committee has come to an end. The Committee has also recommended the end of the use of adjournment motions and their replacement with 'general debate' motions. This change, which mirrors the change already made for equivalent debates in the main chamber, is designed to aid public understanding of House procedures. Finally the Committee has proposed some technical changes; that the Chairman of Ways and Means have overall responsibility for all sittings in Westminster Hall; that the Chair have the power to suspend a sitting and report disorderly conduct to the House; and that unused provisions of the standing order governing business in Westminster Hall be repealed

Download or read book House of Commons Procedure Committee Programming HC 767 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-12-05 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Programme motions are used in the House of Commons to determine the amount of time spent considering legislation. The effective use of programming meets the Government's need to manage the legislative timetable whilst ensuring sufficient opportunity is available for Parliament to scrutinise legislation. However, the inquiry found that the way programming is currently managed means that there is often insufficient time to consider all of the amendments tabled at Report stage. Consequently many measures pass into law without any scrutiny at all. The Report makes a series of recommendations: Government should make greater use of "recommittal" procedures-sending all or part of a bill back to Committee- when large numbers of Government amendments have been tabled, to ensure they receive sufficient scrutiny; a revised procedure for the tabling of supplementary programme motions which would adjust the way scheduling of debate is carried out in advance; ensure that the House has the opportunity, where appropriate, to vote on alternative, non-Government, propositions for the timetabling of legislation and on consideration of Lords Amendments

Download or read book Sitting Hours and the Parliamentary Calendar written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been a huge in increase in the constituency workload over the past few years adding to the pressure on Members of Parliament. Each Member has a different way of working which means in considering sitting hours there are no mainstream options which are necessarily right or wrong. The evidence suggests that the current balance of about 150 days over 34 weeks per year is broadly correct and should remain approximately as is. The Committee recommends that the House should be given the opportunity to vote on whether the House should continue to sit in September from 2013 onwards. There is widespread recognition that there is no scope for any diminution in the time available to the House for debate and scrutiny of legislation. The current pattern of 8 sitting hours on each sitting day between Monday and Thursday should therefore also continue, subject to future decisions concerning Friday sittings. Suggestions were heard that the House should sit normal working hours but that could be ill-suited to the transaction of other important Parliamentary business and needs of Members whose constituencies are some distance from Westminster. The House should be enabled to come to a decision in respect of each different day. The Committee is also currently considering whether consideration of private Members' bills should be moved from Fridays; and programming of legislation. The proposal of 'injury time' to compensate for time spent on oral statements was deemed undesirable but the Committee suggests that there should be a mechanism for backbenchers to question a Minister between 11.00 and 11.30 on Wednesdays

Download or read book Sessional Returns written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-09-14 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On cover and title page: House, committees of the whole House, general committees and select committees

Download or read book Lay Membership of the Committee on Standards and Privileges written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Procedure Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-11-07 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The House should be given the opportunity to restate its acceptance of the principle behind the proposal that lay members be added to the Committee on Standards and Privileges, the Procedure Committee concludes in a report published today. The committee's report responds to the resolution of the House of 2 December last year that lay members should sit on the Committee on Standards and Privileges. If that principle is restated, the House should study with care the arguments made for the inclusion of lay members with or without voting rights, and decide whether lay members should be appointed to the committee with full voting rights or whether they should be appointed with more limited rights protected by rules on quorum and publication of their opinion or advice. A decision in favour of membership with full voting rights would require legislation to be brought forward to put beyond reasonable doubt any question of whether parliamentary privilege applies to the Committee on Standards where it has an element of lay membership. The Procedure Committee recommends that the Committee on Standards and Privileges should be split in two, and that lay members should be included only on the committee relating to standards. The committee also makes a number of practical recommendations about the number, appointment and term of office of lay members.

Download or read book Programming Proposal for a Trial of New Arrangements for the Tabling of Amendments to Bills at Report Stage HC 1220 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Procedure and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Programme motions are used in the House of Commons to determine the amount of time spent considering legislation. The effective use of programming meets the Government's need to manage the legislative timetable whilst ensuring sufficient opportunity is available for Parliament to scrutinise legislation. However, the inquiry found that the way programming is currently managed means that there is often insufficient time to consider all of the amendments tabled at Report stage. Consequently many measures pass into law without any scrutiny at all. The Report makes a series of recommendations: Government should make greater use of recommittal procedures-sending all or part of a bill back to Committee- when large numbers of Government amendments have been tabled, to ensure they receive sufficient scrutiny; a revised procedure for the tabling of supplementary programme motions which would adjust the way scheduling of debate is carried out in advance; ensure that the House has the opportunity, where appropriate, to vote on alternative, non-Government, propositions for the timetabling of legislation and on consideration of Lords Amendments