Franklin De Vrieze, Senior Governance Adviser at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy discusses the role played by independent oversight institutions in ensuring democratic accountability. As governance processes occur within a country’s political-economic and legal-constitutional context, bringing accountability to national governance cannot be left to those individuals and groups holding power. Independent oversight institutions have a specific role in strengthening accountability which is complementary to the oversight role of parliament. Because the relationship between parliament and independent oversight institutions is sub-optimal in many countries, this article discusses the issues shaping their relationship, outlining how to make it more productive.
Tag: scrutiny
Professor David Judge of the University of Strathclyde provides a valuable examination of the current parliamentary balance in the House of Commons. He considers how representative the chamber is and outlines some of the potential difficulties in effecting scrutiny that may lay ahead. The blog was originally written for the LSE Politics and Policy page but has been kindly shared with the PSA Parliaments Specialist Group.
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Parliament: You in Danger, Girl
PSA Parliaments Group Convenor Dr Marc Geddes considers the potential impact that the recent Conservative victory may have upon effective parliamentary scrutiny. The blog discusses the current government’s agenda for legislative reform and the changes that may be brought about by a shake-up in the staffing of key parliamentary roles.
Emmeline Ledgerwood celebrates the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and its work to strengthen Parliament’s scrutiny of science.
Stephen Holden Bates (University of Birmingham), Mark Goodwin (Coventry University) and Steve McKay (University of Lincoln) discuss opening up their select committee data archive for open access research.
Professor Gavin Drewry discusses the role of the Study of Parliament Group in the development of specialist select committees in the House of Commons.
In the third part of their trilogy examining sessional return data, Stephen Holden Bates (University of Birmingham), Mark Goodwin (Coventry University), Steve McKay (University of Lincoln) and Wang Leung Ting (LSE) explore government responses to departmental select committees.
Rebecca McKee and Tom Caygill report back from the House of Commons and the Study of Parliament Group conference marking 40 years of departmental select committees.
Stephen Holden Bates (University of Birmingham), Mark Goodwin (Coventry University), Steve McKay (University of Lincoln) and Wang Leung Ting (LSE), consider the extent to which Commons select committees are based on consensus, in part 2 of their trilogy of blogs drawing on sessional return data.
Franklin De Vrieze discusses a recent expert seminar on post-legislative scrutiny, organised by the University of Hull and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.