House of Commons - The work of committees in 2007-08

The work of committees in 2007-08 - Liaison Committee Contents

Appendix 2: The work of the Scrutiny Unit in 2007-08

Overview

1. The main aim of the Committee Office Scrutiny Unit is to maintain and improve the ability of the House, through its select committees, to perform its scrutiny function. In particular:

it supports select committees and others within the House, mainly but not exclusively in the areas of government expenditure, performance reporting and pre-legislative scrutiny
it provides staff for joint committees of both Houses on draft bills
it supports the evidence-taking functions of Public Bill Committees.

In fulfilling its role, it seeks to develop expertise and best practice and improve the quality of its work by developing relationships with relevant organisations outside the House.

2. In 2007-08 the Unit maintained its usual high level of activity. All the departmental select committees made use of the Unit's services at some point during the session and Unit staff also carried out tasks in support of the wider work of the House. Much of the work undertaken by the Unit concerned the scrutiny of expenditure and performance - a core activity is the regular analysis of the Government's financial reporting to Parliament. The Unit has also played an important role in assisting committees - especially joint committees - in their examination of draft Bills. However, once again Unit staff undertook a considerable volume of other tasks in support of committees. This was partly owing to the fact that work on draft bills was heavily concentrated into a few months of the session, allowing us to direct resources to other tasks at less busy times.

3. Several committees have commented on the value they place on assistance from the Unit. For instance, the Public Administration Committee notes:

We have continued to benefit from significant support from the Scrutiny Unit of the House of Commons in our analyses of expenditure and administration issues and would like once again to express our gratitude for their expertise and assistance[193]

The Work and Pensions Committee also referred to the Unit's "invaluable support" in its financial scrutiny work, and the Transport Committee noted that it was "most grateful" for the Unit's assistance in supporting its inquiry work, as well as financial scrutiny.[194]

Division of staff time

4. Scrutiny Unit staff record the number of tasks they undertake for each committee, the time spent on each task and the broad category into which they fall—expenditure-related tasks, scrutiny of draft bills or "other". ("Other" includes work in support of Public Bill Committees.) It should be noted that this division of staff time provides only a rough estimate. For instance, each day is treated as equal, even though this may not accurately reflect patterns of work, as, at times of peak activity, staff work long hours and this additional time is not captured in the statistics. In the same vein, it should be noted that a "task" can be a short piece of analysis taking only a few hours or assistance to a joint committee on a draft Bill lasting several weeks or months.

5. In broad terms, almost half of Scrutiny Unit staff time was spent on expenditure-related tasks, 25% on draft bills, and 28% on "other" activities, as shown in Figure 1 below.

6. The variation in the Unit's workload over the course of the session is shown in Figure 2 below.

7. Work on draft bills peaks in July, reflecting the fact that draft legislation is now habitually published in the spring, with a burst of pre-legislative scrutiny by joint committees supported by the Unit taking place in the run-up to the Summer Recess. On the other hand, the intensity of work on financial scrutiny tends to be more constant over the year.

8. The way in which the Unit's resources are deployed has changed since it was established in November 2002. Figure 3 below shows, for instance, how expenditure and "other" tasks have increased in importance since the 2003-04 session (the first for which details are available).

9. The change in types of work mainly reflect the variation in the numbers of draft bills published by the Government each session (see Annex for numbers of draft bills published since session 1997-98) and the increase in the range and volume of tasks undertaken by Unit staff, such as supporting Public Bill Committees.

10. Scrutiny Unit staff undertook tasks for each of the departmental select committees, although there was some variation in the extent to which committees used the Unit's services. The Justice Committee made most use of the Unit's staff. This is to be expected, given the role of the Unit's home affairs/public policy analyst in supporting this committee and the Home Affairs Committee. The other two highest users were the Treasury Committee and the Transport Committee.

Staffing of the Unit

11. The Unit's staff complement in session 2007-08 comprised: two legal specialists, a statistician on secondment from the House of Commons Library, two financial analysts on secondment from the National Audit Office and two from Government departments, an economist and a Home Affairs/Public Policy Specialist. In addition, there was a core team of the Head of Unit and two Deputy Heads (Finance and Legislation), an assistant clerk (attached to the Unit, but not part of the formal complement), a senior committee assistant, a team manager, two committee assistants, a part-time committee support assistant and an office support assistant. (The Assistant Clerk post was not continued beyond October 2008, as the postholder was deployed elsewhere in the Committee Office in response to business needs.) The Unit has also continued to host a series of ESRC student interns on three-month placements.

12. As noted in last year's report on the work of the Unit, two of the additional staff were appointed in 2007 in response to specific business requirements: the part-time office clerk post, dealing mainly with evidence-taking by Public Bill Committees, and the public policy analyst post, working for the Home Affairs Committee and the Justice Committee. The new administrative post has been essential in handling the extra workload arising from Public Bill Committees. During periods when PBCs have been less active, she has proved a useful additional resource for the Unit's support of joint and select committees. Although in the event there was less legislation than expected in the home affairs and justice fields, the public policy analyst post appointment has helped the Justice and Home Affairs Committees manage a heavy workload, exacerbated by some staff shortages. We expect more legislative scrutiny in this area in the 2008-09 session, in which the public policy analyst will be involved.

Financial scrutiny work for select committees

13. The Unit continues to support Select Committees in their core tasks of examining departmental expenditure (core task 5) and examining performance against key targets in the Public Service Agreements (core task 6). The finance team provided briefing for committees on the Main and Supplementary Estimates (including analysis of departments' estimates memoranda), resource accounts, Autumn Performance Reports and Departmental Annual Reports (DARs) of all the major Government departments. This year, for the first time, all the departmental select committees held evidence sessions on their departments' DARs, and the Unit provided briefing for, and otherwise supported, many of those hearings. We also provided briefing for the Work and Pensions Committee's hearings on the DWP Autumn Performance Report and Three Year Plan, in March and April 2008.

14. We contributed to the drafting of committee reports on DARs and Estimates. For instance, the Unit assisted with the drafting of the Transport Committee's report on the Department of Transport DAR, and with briefing for the subsequent Estimates Day debate, and with the Defence Committee's reports on the MoD Estimates. As noted in last year's report, the Unit published an over-arching review of the 2007 DARs in March 2008, available at : http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/Departmental%20Reports%20Review%202007.pdf. We will produce a similar review of the DARs published in 2008.

15. The finance team continues to be particularly active in its support of the Treasury Committee, although to a slightly lesser extent than the year before because the Committee was able temporarily to increase its own staffing levels. The Scrutiny Unit's assistance included contributing to briefing on the 2007 Pre-Budget Report, 2008 Budget, the Comprehensive Spending Review, its inquiries on Estates Management and the move to International Accounting Standards and PFI accounting. We also assisted with the drafting of reports on the administration and expenditure of the Chancellor's departments. The Committee has welcomed the Unit's 'valuable input'.[195]

16. Other examples of financial scrutiny work undertaken for committees in 2007-08 include support for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in its examination of Defra's budget - an instance of the Unit's core function of analysing departmental annual reports widening to include work on the Department's wider financial management. The Committee has noted the value of the Unit's assistance.[196] We gave presentations, with Library colleagues, to the Scottish Affairs and Justice Committees on the budgetary controls on the devolved administrations. We also advised some committees which had been consulted by their departments about changes to Estimates structures, and we provided all committees with a high-level analysis of the Comprehensive Spending Review financial settlement for their respective departments, at the start of the session.

17. The Unit's statistician, on loan from the House of Commons Library, assists committees with statistical analysis and the presentation of statistical information, as well as contributing to the general scrutiny work of the Unit. The statistician also takes the lead on analysing the impact assessments which accompany draft bills. Examples of the statistician's work in 2007-08 include analysis of recruitment and retention in the armed forces for the Defence Committee, assistance on analysis and presentation of information on foundation trust performance for the Health Committee and advice to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on the interpretation of statistics on pig meat imports.

Legislative scrutiny

Draft bills

18. Draft Bills are considered by ad hoc Joint Committees of both Houses or departmental Select Committees (in pursuit of Core Task 3). In 2007-08, the Government published nine bills in draft, seven of which received pre-legislative scrutiny. The Unit provided legal specialists, administrative staff and its three Clerks to support the two joint committees appointed to examine the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill and the draft Marine Bill. As in previous years, the two joint committees were given a very tight timetable to complete pre-legislative scrutiny, and thus an intensive workload for members and staff, but they were nevertheless able to publish their reports on schedule.[197]

Public Bill Committees

19. In the 2007-08 session Public Bill Committees (PBCs) continued to take written and oral evidence on bills. 12 PBCs took oral evidence during the session, holding a total of 35 evidence sessions, and receiving 164 written submissions.[198] This represented a significant task for the Unit's administrative staff, who manage the receipt, checking and circulation of submissions to Committee members, and make the practical arrangements for oral evidence sessions. In addition, the Deputy Head (Legislation) commissioned and edited briefing for those evidence sessions from specialist staff of select committees, and she also contributed to the briefing.

Legislative Reform Orders and Legislative Competence Orders

20. Legal specialists in the Unit have continued to work with the staff of the Regulatory Reform Committee in its scrutiny of Legislative Reform Orders (LROs) made under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2005. In 2007-08 one of the Unit's legal specialists prepared briefing for the Committee's inquiry into the draft Legislative Reform (Insolvency) (Individual Voluntary Arrangements) Order 2008, which was withdrawn by the Government shortly after being laid.

21. Under the Government of Wales Act 2006 the National Assembly for Wales can bring forward proposals which would extend the Assembly's law-making powers by way of Legislative Competence Orders in Council (LCOs). The Orders do not themselves change the general law for Wales - they pave the way for subsequent changes in the law applying to Wales within the devolved areas of legislative competence.[199] The Unit has continued to assist the Welsh Affairs Committee in its scrutiny of LCOs. In 2007-08, the Unit's legal specialists and statistician have assisted the Welsh Affairs Committee in its scrutiny of LCOs on Additional Learning Needs, Domiciliary Care, Vulnerable Children, Affordable Housing and the Red Meat industry.

Other work for committees

22. The Scrutiny Unit continued in 2007 to support committees in areas outside its core specialisms of financial and legislative scrutiny. This provision of "surge" capacity has been of particular help to committees faced with unexpected demands in workload or gaps in their staff complement. Work was mainly done on a project basis with staff remaining based in the Unit. For instance, the Assistant Clerk managed inquiries for the Transport Committee into BAA and into the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow, and one of the legal specialists managed the Public Administration Committee's inquiry into Equitable Life. Unit staff have also continued to assist committees with online forums in connection with committee inquiries. Our support mainly consisted of advice to committee staff on establishing and running forums, and help with moderating forums. Unit staff have also made more substantial contributions, notably to the Justice Committee's forum on domestic violence, in which the Unit's public policy analyst played a leading role. The Unit has also supported the House of Commons Web Centre in developing advice and guidance to committee staff in this area.

Work for the Liaison Committee

23. Unit staff have continued to provide support for the Liaison Committee's work. In particular, the Unit's finance team made a significant input to the working group on financial scrutiny, including contributing to the Committee's report on Parliament and Government Finance: Recreating Financial Scrutiny.[200] The Unit is assisting the working group in taking the issues forward, following the Government's response to the report.

24. The Unit is also supporting the Liaison Committee and its working group with work on the Government's 'Alignment' project. This involves bringing the data in the Estimates, departmental budgets and Resource Accounts closer together, to reduce inconsistencies between them in the way they present government expenditure. As part of the Project, the number of financial reporting documents, falling at different points in the year, may be reduced.

25. The Head of the Unit once again led a small team from across the Committee Office supporting Liaison Committee staff in the production of the Committee's annual report on the work of select committees.

Wider work

26. As in previous years the Unit has carried out work for customers other than the departmental select committees. For instance, the Unit supported the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission in its examination of the Commission's 2008-09 draft Estimate and corporate plan. In its annual report, the Committee notes that it "is grateful to the Scrutiny Unit for the quality of its analysis and advice and looks forward to receiving continuing support from it".[201]

27. Other examples include continued support for the Parliamentary Observer on the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB), providing advice to the UK Delegation when it examined the draft budget of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and assistance by Unit's statistician to a departmental working group on transcription services. The Head of the Unit and the Unit statistician have also helped establish and run a small informal network of parliamentary officials which acts as a point of contact for officials of the recently-established UK Statistics Authority.

Training and sharing best practice

28. The Unit continued the work started in 2006 to help train Government and House staff on pre-legislative scrutiny of draft bills, and evidence-taking by Public Bill Committees. This included briefings and presentations to staff of Government departments, and bilateral meetings. Members of the finance team have also briefed select committee members on aspects of financial reporting, e.g. the Estimates process. In March 2008 the Unit held a seminar for committee staff on the presentation of quantitative information in committee reports. We are grateful to one of our ESRC interns, from the department of statistics at the LSE, for his presentation at the seminar. Unit staff have also taken part in training events for committee staff on running online forums. We also produced, and published on our website, an analysis of the quality of Departmental Annual Reports and a paper on PFI accounting.

29. International interest in the legislative and financial scrutiny work of the Unit is reflected in regular visits by staff and members of overseas legislatures. In 2007-08 Unit staff briefed visitors from Australia, Bahrain, Botswana, Czech Republic, China, Finland, Guyana, Jersey, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman and Vietnam.

30. In May 2008 the Unit submitted written evidence to the review by the Scottish Parliament's Finance Committee of the Budget Process consultation. The Unit's paper discussed the extent to which the House of Commons and select committees engage in scrutinising expenditure plans, and highlighted a number of current developments which might change the way such scrutiny is undertaken in Westminster. The submission is available on the Unit's website.[202]

The future

31. In my previous report, I noted the proposal from the Review of Select Committee Resources in 2007 that the Committee Office work towards the establishment of a central Research Unit, bringing together a broad spectrum of skills and policy experience, and commented on the possible implications for the future of the Scrutiny Unit. This proposal has not been adopted, so it is likely that the Unit will continue to operate broadly on its present lines. We will continue to work to understand our customers' needs and tailor our assistance accordingly, including through informal surveys of committee clerks and monitoring of feedback received.

32. We will also continue to provide training to Committee Office colleagues- e.g. on using economics in inquiries, presentation of statistical data in committee reports, the Treasury's 'Alignment project' and understanding Resource Accounts. The Liaison Committee, in its 2008 report on financial scrutiny, called on the Unit to produce a "financial scrutiny training plan" for Members for 2008-09.[203] In response to this recommendation, we are planning training events for Members and their staff, in conjunction with the House of Commons Library, on the 'Alignment 'Project and on understanding Resource Accounts. We will arrange further events in the light of the response we receive.

33. As ever, it is difficult to make definite predictions about the balance of the Unit's future work, as this will depend on factors such as the number and timing of draft bills published by the Government, and how many joint committees are appointed to scrutinise them, the number of public bill committees that take evidence and the demands of committees for assistance ("surge capacity") at especially busy times. The creation of eight regional select committees, a new committee on energy and climate change and the Speaker's Conference may add to the overall level of demand from within the Committee Office.

Matthew Hamlyn

Head, Scrutiny Unit

January 2009

Annex: Draft Bills published since Session 1997-1998

Session Number of draft bills published

1997-98 3

1998-99 6

1999-2000 6

2000-01 2

2001-02 7

2002-03 9¹

2003-04 12

2004-05 5

2005-06 4²

2006-07 4

2007-08 9³

¹Excludes draft clauses of Gambling Bill since the main part of this draft   was published in 2003-04 and is included in that figure
²  Includes draft Terrorism Bill
³   Does not include draft clauses of the Banking Bill published as part of Cm   7459.