Memorandum from Mr Andrew Dismore MP (M12)
STRENGTHENING THE
ROLE OF
THE BACKBENCHER
Firstly, the significant increase in workload
for many Members in relation to constituency work inevitably means
there is less time available to spend in the House. This is particularly
so in the absence of adequate resources to support Members. I
find myself doing work which really ought to be capable of being
delegated to others, but unfortunately there is no one to delegate
to, bearing in mind the huge workload my constituency produces.
The other key problem is the lack of a speaking
list for debates in Parliament. If one does not know whether or
not one is going to get called, or when, it is a major time commitment
to give up what may be half a day or longer to sit in the House
waiting for one's turn to come up. I personally have been discouraged
from participating in debates because I simply cannot afford to
spend hours waiting for the chance to speak. I believe that speakers'
lists would be a major advance in persuading people that they
could participate, without having to waste large amounts of time
that could be better spent elsewhere.
There also ought to be much more discipline/restriction
on the length of time front bench speakers take in debates, as
this clearly squeezes the amount of time available for backbenchers,
too.
December 2006
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