What happened in parliament this week?
Author: Alexandra Runswick
Published on Sep 07, 2012
With parliament returning this week, we've decided to start publishing our parliamentary monitoring on our website to help keep you informed with what is going on in terms of democratic reform and participation. We hope you find this useful.
Reshuffle update
You can find a full list of ministerial appointments here: http://www.number10.gov.uk/the-coalition/the-government/
Those of particular interest to Unlock Democracy include:
- Mark Harper, who had been responsible for Lords reform and lobbying policy, has left the Cabinet Office to be Immigration Minister. Chloe Smith goes into Cabinet Office, primarily to work with Francis Maude on civil service reform. It is not yet clear who will have responsibility for lobbying policy although it should be noted that Oliver Letwin took this question at Cabinet Office questions this week.
- Nick Boles has joined DCLG as the Minister for Planning, replacing Greg Clark.
- Brandon Lewis replaces Bob Neill as DCLG Minister
- Andrew Lansley replaces Sir George Young as Leader of the House
- Lord Ashcroft is to be appointed to the Privy Council.
- Up to 32 members can now attend cabinet at any one time – depending on the issues being discussed.
- The number of women with voting rights in cabinet meetings has decreased from 4 to 3. 9 government departments including the Treasury are lacking any female ministers.
Consultations / Inquiries
The Chair of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee has written to the Prime Minister to invite him to give evidence to the Committee’s inquiry into the impact and effectiveness of ministerial reshuffles.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/political-and-constitutional-reform-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/reshuffles/
The Public Administration Select Committee has launched an inquiry into the communicating and publishing of statistics
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-administration-select-committee/news/iq-statistics-study-4/
The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee held the third evidence session of its inquiry into Do we need a constitutional convention for the UK? It heard evidence from Sir Merrick Cockell, Local Government Association, Ged Fitzgerald, Chief Executive, Liverpool City Council, Tom Riordan, Chief Executive, Leeds City Council, Will Godfrey, Strategic Director for Corporate Services, Bristol City Council
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11351
Reports Published
IPSA publishes MPs’ business costs and expenses for 2011/12
http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk/AnnualisedData.aspx
The Public Administration Select Committee published its report on the appointment of the Chair if the Charity Commission
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubadm/315/315.pdf
The Public Administration Select Committee published its report on the honours system.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubadm/19/19.pdf
The Public Administration Select Committee published its report on business appointment rules recommending that there should be an end to the ‘revolving door’.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubadm/404/404.pdf
The Scottish Affairs Committee published its report on a multi-option referendum question
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/scottish-affairs-committee/news/multi-question-referendum-report/
The Scottish Affairs Committee published its report on the legality of the Scottish independence referendum
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/scottish-affairs-committee/news/rss-legality-report/
The Public Accounts Committee published its report on implementing the transparency agenda
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/transparency-report/
Debates
There were none on our issues this week
Written Questions
There were none on our issues this week
Written Answers and statements
House of Lords reform Bill – Nick Clegg
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-09-03a.35.0
Oral Questions
Register of Lobbyists – Yvonne Fovargue / Oliver Letwin
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-09-05a.219.3&s=%22register+of+lobbyists%22#g219.6
Register of Lobbyists – John Cryer / Andrew Lansley
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-09-06a.383.0&s=%22register+of+lobbyists%22#g398.2
House of Lords reform – Chris Bryant / Andrew Lansley
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-09-06a.383.0&s=%22House+of+Lords+reform%22#g393.1
Party Funding – Nadine Dorries / David Cameron
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-09-05a.228.7&s=%22funding+of+political+parties%22#g229.3
Oral Answers
There were none on our issues this week
Coming up in Westminster this week
Monday 10 September
Legislation – European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill [HL] – Committee stage
Tuesday 11 September
13.30–14.00 –Westminster Hall debate on the progress of bilateral discussions between the UK and Welsh Governments on financial matters – Hywel Williams
Wednesday 12 September
Motion – Appointment of a new Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
The House of Lords is in recess until 8 October. The House of Commons will go into recess for the party conference season on Wednesday 19 September.