Accountability

 

A key aspect of the doctrine of ministerial responsibility - is that members of the Government are subject to questioning by MPs and Peers. Oral questions are held on Mondays through Thursdays in both Houses. MPs and Members of the House of Lords can also submit written questions - and they can engage in correspondence.

Yesterday the Minister for the Cabinet Office published a report on Departments’ and agencies’ performance on handling Members’ and peers’ correspondence during the calendar year 2012.

Performance - and therefore the level of accountability varies - The Department of Health, dealing with 17,279 letters (this is from MPs & Peers, whose job it is to hold Government to account) responded within their target period to 98% of those letters. The Department for Education (16,413 letters) only reached 55%.

If I were being flippant I'd say that the Secretary of State for Education, Mr Michael Gove should have his report card marked, "Could do better". But this is a serious matter. He is responsible to Parliament for the performance of his Department - and should be ensuring that when MPs and Peers ask questions; raise concerns about individual cases; and issues that he is responsible for - answers should be given - not perhaps immediately (I'd love to see the pronouncements of the DfE and its Ministers based on evidence - and that can take time), but within the targets set down for the Department.

I hope the Education Select Committee and individual MPs & Peers will take up the issue of this failure to reach acceptable levels of response. Accountability matters!

The full report can be read at

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130513/wmstext/130513m0001.htm#1305133000294

Beyond Washminster...

This blog's focus is on the UK Parliament; US Congress; the European Union and France (with a large helping of law and politics). An old friend sent me details of a website produced by Trade Bridge Consultants (which he jointly leads) which provides information about areas outside these. (and inside too!)

The website http://www.tradebridgeconsultants.com/ has information about elections; changes in government posts; and other political newsfeeds from around the world. A very useful tool indeed.

New Commons Order Paper

Once, not so long ago - the Commons Order paper only meant sense to those who were insiders - and knew the "code", but a lot of improvements have been made in recent years. Now it has been completely redesigned and can be used by those who have not been MPs or parliamentary officials for a long time.

Monday's new order paper is online now - do view it at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmagenda/sa130513.htm

Any comments would be appreciated.

Does Law make a difference?

Each year Parliament (and Congress/the European Union) produces lots of legislation. But does it actually change anything?

Research has established that:

• After smokefree legislation was introduced  in England, there was a significant drop in  non-smoking adults’ exposure to  secondhand smoke.

• Hospital admissions for heart attacks  dropped significantly, with 1,200 fewer  admissions in the first year following  legislation (after controlling for other  factors), saving the NHS £8.4 million.

• Emergency hospital admissions for asthma  among adults dropped significantly, with  1,900 fewer admissions in each of the first  three years following legislation.
You can read the research paper here.

You'd expect then that if law can change things - then people who profit from the existing position will seek to influence lawmakers and policy makers not to act. And that's where multi-million pound lobbying operations come in. [Just think of the implication of this - people who profit from killing and injuring others are trying to influence our representatives to put their commercial interests above the life and health of people who can't afford a skilled & well paid lobbying organisation to speak up for them]

The University of Bath (Institute for Policy Research) has produced a brief on the political strategies being used by tobacco companies to reduce the impact of these findings on public policy - and to hold up or defeat legislation that might produce similar effects.

The Institute's research paper can be accessed here.

Law can make a difference - and so who is influencing the decision makers, and how - is a matter we should all be concerned about.

Party Political Broadcasts

Everyone's favourites - I write in jest. I know that some people find them uninteresting (and I haven't seen one in years, when I'm campaigning I don't have time - and when I'm taking time off, I want to relax!). I do prefer the limits in the UK, even I was bored rigid by the constant repetition (and downright misleading content) of US political ads when I was in Virginia during last year's elections.

Of course political advertising raises issues of freedom of expression. The House of Commons Library has just produced a paper on Party Political Broadcasts - and sets out the legal framework - and the issue of compatibilty with the European Convention on Human Rights.

So whether you are a political geek, or a law student - you might find it useful to download the paper.