Daniel Greenberg, PLC consultant:
Our 16th March post before the election reported the House of Commons’ decision in principle to establish a new Select Committee to ensure, amongst other things, more effective scrutiny of legislation.
The Coalition Agreement of 20th May 2010 included a commitment to proceeding with the establishment of the new committee. The necessary motions were tabled by the Government in the House of Commons and debated on 15th June, as a result of which the Committee has now been established and its 8 members elected.
The Standing Orders of the House of Commons have been amended to reflect the establishment of the new committee; in particular, new Standing Order 14(3A) gives it control over the deployment of a total of 35 days business in each Parliamentary session, split between at least 27 in the Chamber and the remainder in the Committee room known as “Westminster Hall”.
With 35 debating days to allocate the new Committee clearly has a very significant ability to make a change in the way legislation is debated, and other business is dealt with. But everything will depend on how the Committee wields its power. The Committee has a strong government majority, but has been elected with the express mission of redressing the balance between the Executive and Parliament, in the particular sense of giving back-benchers more influence. Whether it is successful in this task remains to be seen: PLC Public Sector will continue to monitor this potentially significant change and provide updates.