Parliament & Executive: Committees
Political Studies: Edexcel A Level, topic 11.2.2
Parliament Holding Executive to Account: Committees
Parliament has many ways of holding the government to account, including through questions to ministers, select committees, voting and a vote of no confidence.
Select committees
- Departmental Select Committees scrutinise government department work and scrutinise ministers in detail through a longer style of questioning than in question time.
- Nick Hurd, the Home Office Minister was questioned by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on the support that was being provided for people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Benefits of select committees
- Select committees closely scrutinise individual government departments.
- Select committees publish reports on issues which the government is expected to respond to within 60 days.
- The government published a response to a report calling for apprenticeship reforms by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Education committees.
Criticism of select committees
- Select committee scrutiny can be ineffective at holding the government to account when ministers are unhelpful in providing evidence when questioned.
- In 2016 Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary at the time, was accused of “waffling” by the committee chair of the foreign affairs select committee during questioning.
Test yourself on Parliament & Executive: Committees
How many days does the government have to respond to reports from select committees?