Holding the Government to Account

• Parliamentary representatives can be effective through scrutiny in the Chamber by MPs, scrutiny in Committees by MPs, or scrutiny in the Lords.
• FPTP: 68% of votes, 365 seats, 44% & 58% of votes, 11 & 3.7 million votes, 14.5 million voters.
• The numbers relate to what you learned about voting systems but it is your job to put the numbers into context.
• 68% of votes, 365 seats, 44% & 58% of votes, 11 & 3.7 million votes, 14.5 million voters.
• The UK Parliament is made up of two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
• The main function of parliamentary representatives is to scrutinise the government which means holding the government to account.
• This is done by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords who closely examine bills before they are passed and become law.
• The Lords are often reluctant to completely change or defeat a bill that comes from the House of Commons because they recognise that they are not elected and are under the consent threat of being reformed or abolished if they are seen to challenge the ‘democratic will’ of voters.
• There are many ways that Parliamentary Representatives can hold the government to account such as scrutiny in the Chamber by MPs, scrutiny in Committees by MPs, scrutiny in the Lords.
• Scrutiny in the Commons Chamber is when MPs can raise concerns and challenge the government each week (every Wednesday at 12 o’clock).
• Ultimately, it can be argued that scrutiny in the Chamber by MPs is the most effective tool used by MPs and Lords because it allows for a more direct and immediate form of accountability.
• It could also be argued that scrutiny in Committees by MPs and scrutiny in the Lords are more effective ways that MPs and Lords can scrutinise the government.
• Some would argue that the most effective way that Parliamentary Representatives can hold the government to account is scrutiny in the Chamber by MPs.
• The House of Lords has the power to force the House of Commons and the government to reconsider aspects of the bill.
• Many Lords are experts in a particular area which means that laws written by the House of Commons benefit from someone who works in the field.
• The scrutiny provided by the House of Lords can force uncomfortable issues for the government into the media which may force the government to abandon flawed and unpopular bills/legislation.
• MPs ask questions of government ministers as well as the Prime Minister.
• The House of Lords, the unelected second chamber, plays an important role in the decision-making process as all laws (non-finance) must be agreed by both Houses before Royal Assent can be given.
• The majority of the questions asked receive written responses but some are answered orally for around an hour each day Mon-Thurs.
• This provides the opportunity for MPs to ‘grill’ the government about their actions in an attempt to hold them to account.
• Each committee is chaired by an MP who has been elected by all MPs.
• The government can’t stop the publication of a report but can delay when it responds to the report.
• Most questions are seen in advance by the minister or PM in order for them to prepare a response.
• The government is not bound by recommendations a committee gives, meaning that after a committee gathers evidence, calls witnesses and makes its report - the government can respond and then simply reject it.
• The government decides what issues are to be debated and dominates discussion during debates.
• After an election the parties share out which committees they will be in charge on based on how well they did in the election.
• The biggest party in the Commons will be in charge of the largest number of committees.
• Chairs of committees are backbenchers so more autonomous as not on government payroll.
• MPs are elected to committees and places are allocated on size of party which means the government will always have most MPs on a committee.
• Committees scrutinise government decisions by gathering evidence and examining witnesses which include experts and ministers who explain actions or give advice.
• The vast majority of debates are not well attended and if the government has a strong majority in parliament it is unlikely they would lose a vote and so can ignore the views of opposition MPs.
• MPs can hold the government to account through debating which draws attention to the work of the government including where MPs think it is not doing a good job.
• Committees run by the largest party may be reluctant to focus on areas that might embarrass the government for risk of making their own party look bad.
• Witnesses and Ministers can be called to give evidence in committees.
• Effective scrutiny of government performance influences voters when it comes to electing a new government.
• Committees write reports and before they are published send to the government for an official response.
• MPs scrutinise the Government much more closely through committees.
• PM Questions only lasts for around 30 mins with the majority of the questions only being asked by the leaders of the opposition parties.
• The media can frame stories around government performance during questioning sessions in order to place even more scrutiny on them.
• Select Committees are essentially groups of MPs which each examine a specific aspect of the work of the government.