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2018 Ellis Eloise 97178705 Et This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament Ellis, Eloise Elizabeth Catherine Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 02. Oct. 2021 The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament Eloise Elizabeth Catherine Ellis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at King’s College London December 2017 Eloise E C Ellis, The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament Abstract Much of the development in constitutional reform that took place between 2010 and 2015 might be described as an accident of circumstance, particularly those in the early years that were widely regarded as a compromise intended to bind the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government together. It was this unique context of a Coalition Government in office, with a specific constitutional reform policy brief accorded to the Liberal Democrat leader as Deputy Prime Minister, that gave rise to the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee being established in 2010. The creation of this Committee, and the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 shortly after providing a fixed five- year term for the working of the Committee, formed the genesis and basis for this PhD study. This particular Committee was, in the words of its Chair, a ‘bolt-on’; it was an ‘experiment’ with a finite lifespan. The conditions in which the PCRC emerged enabled it to carve out a unique position for itself, adopting a strategic and focused five-year plan. This thesis studies the PCRC not only for its working and impact in the evolving process of constitutional reform in the UK, but as a case study assessment of House of Commons Select Committees more widely. It considers the strengthened and more wide-reaching role that a Select Committee was able to perform during the 2010-15 Parliament, especially with respect to the development of public policy both in terms of scrutiny of Government action and proposals and the initiation of its own policy ideas and proposals. Conclusions are drawn about the aims, quality and effectiveness of the Committee’s work, particularly in influencing government and parliamentary thinking on constitutional affairs, and the legacy of the PCRC is examined. This in-depth case study of the work of the PCRC is the first of its kind to examine this unique Select Committee, and provides an original contribution to a scholarly understanding of the working and impact of the Select Committee system. It serves to identify best practice in working methods and innovations of a Select Committee, and suggests there is scope for some of these working practices to be adopted more widely, adding to the evolving structural reform that has taken place in recent years designed to improve the effectiveness of Select Committees at Westminster. 2 Eloise E C Ellis, The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament Preface Background The Select Committee system in the Commons has been the subject of considerable evolution and change since its introduction in 1979. Recent changes have included, for example, taking on a far greater pre-legislative scrutiny role than ever before, and their chairmanship and membership being chosen directly by MPs themselves, providing them with a ‘double legitimacy – election by our colleagues as well as our constituents’1 rather through the party whip system. Culturally, due in part to the crisis of public confidence in Parliament following the expenses scandal of 2009 and a desire to redeem the standing of MPs, the Select Committees have also grown in assertiveness and energy in carrying out their work. The extent to which Select Committees have a real and practical impact on government policy and administration, however, is a different question which goes to the heart of the present thesis. Since 1979 the recommendations in Select Committee reports have rarely been adopted outright by ministers, who are principally concerned with implementing their own prepared agenda, particularly, as during the term of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010 Parliament, one emerging after taut negotiations between Coalition partners. However, a Committee's work in raising a subject for inquiry, or gathering evidence that tests the veracity of a department's position, or displaying the strength of parliamentary support behind its conclusions, does exert considerable pressure on the government. Scope and Structure of the Thesis This work begins with a critique of the literature and current understanding of the role of Parliament in scrutiny, specifically that of constitutional and political reform, moving towards a focus on the Parliamentary Select Committees’ increasingly central position in the Westminster system. It then focuses on the specific work of the unusual and innovative Political and Constitutional Reform Committee during the 2010 Parliament. The Committee’s work is categorised into three, overlapping, strands and its impact and influence are thus analysed in the fields of 1 Graham Allen, LSE Blog, 6 December 2011: <http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2011/12/06/parliament- military-action/> accessed 8 December 2011 3 Eloise E C Ellis, The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament legislative review, acting as forum for research and evidence collection and in terms of initiating and generating debate on constitutional change, particularly around codification. The conclusions attempt to evaluate the work of this particular Committee, which was not reappointed following the 2015 General Election, with a discussion around its legacy. Methodology The programme of research for this thesis included a comprehensive study of the existing scholarly literature on the institutions and working of the Westminster Parliament and its Select Committees, and of all parliamentary publications and debates on the Select Committee system over the period since their introduction in 1979, especially those addressing the functioning of Select Committees themselves; attendance at and observation of Select Committees in action, especially the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (PCRC); and a series of personal meetings and interviews with members of the PCRC as well as other leading parliamentarians, parliamentary clerks and leading parliamentary scholars for their views on the working and achievements of the PCRC. 4 Eloise E C Ellis, The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament Frequently used abbreviations/acronyms CSPL Committee on Standards in Public Life DPM Deputy Prime Minister DPRR Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee JCHR Joint Committee on Human Rights PACAC Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee PASC Public Administration Select Committee PCRC Political and Constitutional Reform Committee PM Prime Minister 5 Eloise E C Ellis, The Working and Impact of the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the 2010-15 Parliament Acknowledgements Professor Robert Blackburn and Professor Keith Ewing of King’s College London, both of whom I have now known for almost 20 years, acted as supervisors to this thesis. Over the past few years, I have been very grateful for their expertise, their time, and the encouragement they have shown me as I worked out my ideas and put them to paper. I have also been fortunate to have a number of friends and colleagues who have not only provided support and encouragement throughout this process but also kindly read chapters at various stages of drafting, in particular heartfelt thanks to Lu Xu, Caroline Morris and Philip Morgan. Numerous Parliamentarians, Ministers and Parliamentary Clerks very kindly gave me their time and shared with me their experiences and expertise. Some of those with whom I met and interviewed wished their comments to remain private and attributed anonymously. But most of all I owe a huge
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