3 Impact and support for the House
53. Over the course of this Parliament we have informed
the House's deliberations in a wide range of areas, particularly
in terms of consideration of legislation which we have scrutinised—either
by way of formal pre-legislative scrutiny or, on those occasions
when the Government has decided to introduce legislation without
allowing prior scrutiny, by way of "mid-legislative"
scrutiny. Significant amendments have been made to policy proposals
(Recall of MPs) and legislation (The Government's
lobbying Bill) as a result of our work.
54. Our reports have been "tagged" as relevant
to a wide variety of debates in the Chamber—including consideration
of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade
Union Administration Bill, the Recall of MPs Bill, a Backbench
Business debate on repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011,
several debates on reform to the House of Lords, and debates on
the future of devolution after the Scottish referendum.[68]
55. Our effectiveness and reputation have also been
enhanced by the election of the Chair by the membership of the
House as whole, and of other members of committees by their parties.
This reform has generally increased the independence of Committees,
and legitimacy of Chairs, by distancing them from party control.
We regret the failure of the Government to pursue the full implementation
of the proposals of the Wright Committee for reform of the House
of Commons.[69]
Work planning
56. We have made an effort to plan our own work strategically,
so as to maximise the value of our work and the impact it has
on Government policy. This has included ensuring that reports
are produced in a way which best supports the House's ability
to scrutinise the Government and legislation being considered
by Parliament, and also following up on work where additional
scrutiny is necessary.
57. Our experience is that effectively planning
a Committee's programme over the course of a Parliament—whilst
allowing for the flexibility which is necessary to scrutinise
emerging issues—has substantially increased our ability
to both influence the Government's programme of political and
constitutional reform, and also undertake substantial projects
of our own. This working method has been made possible by the
fixing of the term of a Parliament, which provides some security
against Committee work being disrupted by an early general election.
68 Debates to which the Committee's reports have been
tagged are listed in the House of Commons Sessional Returns. Back
69
Revisiting Rebuilding the House: the impact of the Wright reforms,
Third Report of Session 2013-14, HC 82 Back
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