Making British Law Committees in Action

British Governments must pass laws if they are to survive, and Parliament is responsible for scrutinising these laws. We are used to seeing Members of Parliament in the House of Commons chamber, but we very rarely see them in committee, examining and debating the finer details of government bills.

This book sheds light on the hidden world of House of Commons bill committees as they scrutinise legislation.

Through a close analysis of government bills, it explores the inner workings of committees, revealing the widespread misconceptions of committee work.

It also considers whether it is possible for backbenchers to change the law, examines the techniques and strategies they use to do this, and argues that committees are vital to the making of British law.

Louise Thompson is Lecturer in British Politics at the University of Surrey and Research Associate at the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull.

List of Figures and Tables
Preface
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Discredited Scrutiny
2. Understudied And Overshadowed
3. Why Should We Care About Committee Work?
4. Aims And Structure Of This Book
PART II: THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF BILL COMMITTEES
5. Committees And The Legislative Process
6. Moving Upstairs
7. Purpose
8. Sittings And Membership
9. Committee Procedure
10. Programming
11. Evidence Taking
12. Limitations And Opportunities
PART III: THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF BILL COMMITTEES
13. Gladstone Introduces Standing Committees
14. Watershed Moment
15. Select Committees And Special Standing Committees
16. Attempts At Programming
17. Post 1997 Reforms
18. The 2006 Reforms
19. An End To Standing Committees
20. Introduction Of Evidence Taking
21. Public Reading Stage
22. Efficient To Effective Committees?
PART IV: MEASURING COMMITTEE IMPACT
23. Measuring Parliamentary Impact
24. The Viscosity Of The Process
25. Measuring Committee Impact
26. Formal Indicators Of Viscosity In Committee
27. How Many Bills Are Amended?
28. How Many Amendments Are Made?
29. Success Of Government Amendments
30. Government Defeats In Committee
31. Success Of Non Government Amendments
32. What Do Amendments Actually Change?
33. The Hunting Bill 2002-03
34. Explaining Low Viscosity In Committees
35. Strong Committee Discipline
36. Ministerial Reluctance To Accept Amendments
37. Alternative Means Of Constrain
38. Overwhelming Compliance
PART V: THE OTHER SIDE OF COMMITTEE WORK
39. Indicators Of Viscosity
40. Indicators At Committee Stage
41. Changes Made Elsewhere
42. Commitments To Reconsider Amendments
43. Commitments To Table Amendments At Report
44. Compromises
45. Indicators At Report Stage
46. Ministerial Undertakings In Committee
47. Between Committee Stage And Report
48. Committee Influence At Report Stage
49. The Content Of Report Stage Amendments
50. Other Changes At Report
51. NHS Redress [HL] Bill
52. Why Is Committee Impact Greater At Report?
53. Maximising Policy Impact
54. Committee Impact In The House Of Lords
55. The Full Picture Of Committee Scrutiny
PART VI: ENGAGING WITH EXPERTS
56. Initial Impressions
57. Who Gives Evidence?
58. A Scrutiny Weapon
59. Informing Members
60. Probing Amendments
61. Use Of Evidence In Committee
62. Agenda Setting
63. Amendment Supporting
64. Amendment Drafting
65. Trailing Amendments
66. Formal Impact Of Evidence Taking
67. Evidence Taking And Ministerial Undertakings
68. The Health And Social Care Bill 2007-08
69. Expected Patterns Of Scrutiny Behaviour
70. An Opposition Tool
71. Impact At Report Stage
72. An Imperfect Process
PART VII: CONCLUSION
73. Capacity And Reality
74. Changing Expectations
75. Interrupting The Flow Of Government Legislation
76. Maximising Committee Impact
77. A Very British Method Of Scrutiny
78. Note On Sample Of Bills
References
Index