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Rebuilding the House

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Rebuilding the House House of Commons House of Commons Reform Committee Rebuilding the House First Report of Session 2008–09 Report, together with formal minutes and written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 12 November 2009 HC 1117 Published on 24 November 2009 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons The Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons was appointed by the House of Commons on 20 July 2009 to consider and report by 13 November 2009 on four specified matters: • the appointment of members and chairmen of select committees; • the appointment of the Chairman and Deputy Chairmen of Ways and Means; • scheduling business in the House; • enabling the public to initiate debates and proceedings in the House and closely connected matters. The Committee, which lasts until the end of the Parliament, may also consider other matters referred to it by the House. Current membership Dr Tony Wright MP (Labour, Cannock Chase) (Chairman) Mr Graham Allen MP (Labour, Nottingham North) Mr Peter Atkinson MP (Conservative, Hexham) Mr Clive Betts MP (Labour, Sheffield, Attercliffe) Mr Graham Brady MP (Labour, Altrincham & Sale West) Mr David Clelland MP (Labour, Tyne Bridge) Mr David Drew MP (Labour Co-op, Stroud) Natascha Engel MP (Labour, North East Derbyshire) Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrats, Oxford West and Abingdon) David Howarth MP (Liberal Democrats, Cambridge) Rt Hon Michael Jack MP (Conservative, Fylde) Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative, East Yorkshire) Mr Elfyn Llwyd MP (Plaid Cymru, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) Mr Chris Mullin MP (Labour, Sunderland South) Dr Nick Palmer MP (Labour, Broxtowe) Martin Salter MP (Labour, Reading West) Dr Phyllis Starkey MP (Labour, Milton Keynes South West) Mr Andrew Tyrie MP (Conservative, Chichester) The following member was also a member of the committee during the parliament. Sir George Young MP (Conservative, North West Hampshire) Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/reform_committee.cfm. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are David Natzler (Clerk), Lucinda Maer (Senior Research Clerk) and Rowena Macdonald (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the House of Commons Reform Committee, House of Commons, London SW1A OAA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 3255; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] 1 Contents Report Page Summary 5 1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT 7 2 PRINCIPLES 11 General principles 12 Parliamentary control of business 12 Collective working and individual Members 12 Transparency and accessibility 13 Constraints: Government business 13 Constraints: time 13 Achievable change 13 3 SELECT COMMITTEES: ELECTION OF MEMBERS AND CHAIRS 15 A. Terms of reference etc 15 Deputy Speakers 15 B Select committees: what happens now 16 Members 17 Size and number 19 Speed of nomination 20 Intelligence and Security Committee 20 Public bill committee membership 21 Chairs 21 C Is the system satisfactory? 22 D A reformed system 24 Assumptions 25 Options 25 A reformed system: conclusion 25 Chairs 26 Members 28 E. Conclusion 29 ANNEX: Options considered by Committee 29 4 BUSINESS IN THE HOUSE 31 A. Terms of reference and connected matters 31 Business in the House 31 Scheduling and timetabling 31 Sitting patterns 32 Annual sessions and carry-over 33 Closely connected matters: general committees 33 Closely connected matters: Report stage of bills 35 Closely connected matters: consideration of Lords amendments 38 B The current framework 38 C. Government-initiated business 40 Who owns time? 40 2 Categories 41 Conclusion 45 D Process of scheduling business 45 E Is the current system satisfactory? 47 Strengths 48 Failure to match principles 49 Parliamentary control of business 49 Cross-party working 50 Transparency 50 Topicality 50 Use of time 51 F Five elements of a reformed system 51 I.The House should determine its own agenda and sitting pattern 51 II Backbench business should be scheduled by backbenchers and the House 54 III The Government should retain the initiative on scheduling ministerial business 55 IV The Opposition are entitled to more say in when Opposition Days are scheduled and how they are used 56 V Select committees and individual Members should be given enhanced opportunities, while retaining their existing rights of initiative 57 Key elements of revised system 58 G Assembling the jigsaw 59 H Time available to the backbench business committee 62 I Backbench business 64 J Conclusion 65 5 INVOLVING THE PUBLIC: NEXT STEPS 66 A Introduction 66 B What happens now 68 Individual Members 68 Petitions 69 Early Day Motions 69 Select committees 70 C Reform agenda 71 General 71 Petitions 71 Early Day Motions and Motions for House debate 77 Legislative Process 78 D Going further 79 General 79 Agenda initiative 80 A Direct Line to Westminster? 81 E Conclusion 81 6 CONCLUSION 82 Conclusions and recommendations 83 Annex: draft Resolution 94 3 Formal Minutes 95 List of written evidence 98 List of unprinted evidence 98 5 Summary The Committee aims to make the Commons matter more, increase its vitality and rebalance its relationship with the executive, and to give the public a greater voice in parliamentary proceedings. INTRODUCTION, CONTEXT AND PRINCIPLES In the first two chapters the Committee sets out the wider background to its establishment in July 2009; seeks a prompt debate and decision on its proposals and their phased implementation; and describes the principles that have guided its work. SELECT COMMITTEES The Committee recommends that the Chairs of departmental and similar select committees be directly elected by secret ballot of the House using the alternative vote. The distribution of individual chairs between parties should be agreed as now by the parties, on the basis of a proportionate division conveyed to them by the Speaker, and put to the House for its agreement. Candidates for chairs would be required to have a minimum level of support from within their party as well as being free to demonstrate support from other Members. The Committee recommends that members of departmental and similar committees should be elected from within party groups by secret ballot, each party choosing its own publicly declared method approved by the Speaker as democratic and transparent, and that the names then be transmitted to the House for its endorsement. The Committee also recommends (a) a reduction in the size of a standard departmental committee to not more than 11, with the possibility of adding members to provide for smaller party representation, and a reduction in the overall number of committees (b) a Standing Order ensuring the election of members and Chairs of select committees within six weeks of the Queen’s Speech (c) the election by the House of the Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee. It is the Committee’s hope that these changes, to be implemented from the start of the new Parliament but requiring agreement in the last session of this Parliament, will invigorate select committees, leading to higher levels of attendance and participation, and that with other measures described they will help ensure that the work of select committees is more adequately reflected in the work of the House and on the agenda of public debate. BUSINESS IN THE HOUSE The Committee examines the current system for scheduling business in the House in detail, and in particular sets out for each category now scheduled by Ministers how far they are really to be regarded as Ministerial as opposed to House or backbench business. It concludes that all time belongs to the House, but also that Governments are entitled to put their legislation before the House at a time of their choosing, and concluded by a set date. The Committee recommends a system where backbench business is organised by a 6 Backbench Business Committee, responsible for all business which is not strictly Ministerial. That Committee would then join with the representatives of the Government and Opposition in a House Business Committee which would be obliged to come up with a draft agenda for the week ahead, working through consensus, with the Chairman of Ways and Means (the Deputy Speaker) in the chair. The agenda would then be put to the House for its agreement, replacing the weekly Business Questions. The Committee also looks at the sessional sitting pattern within which the scheduling of business operates and recommends that the House should decide its sitting pattern for itself. It provides a detailed prescription for reforming the way bills are considered on the floor of the House after the committee stage and also makes recommendations on consideration of Lords amendments and on Private Members’ Bills. It will largely be up to the Backbench Business Committee to determine how to fulfil its task of organising non-Ministerial business, but the report gives some indications of the sort of new or refreshed opportunities which might be offered, including readier access to the agenda of the House for select committees and better opportunities for backbenchers to raise matters of current concern. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT The Committee calls for the primary focus of the House’s overall agenda for engagement with the public to be shifted towards actively assisting a greater degree of public participation. It calls for urgent discussions on the currently stalled process of introducing an e-petitions system, and for the Procedure Committee to become for a trial period a Procedure and Petitions Committee, dealing with petitions submitted under existing rules. It recommends a number of changes designed to give presentation of petitions greater significance in the House’s proceedings, including the possibility of a debate.
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