Role Of Good Parliamentary Scrutiny Of Government

Scrutiny of government can be defined as any activity that involves examining (and being prepared to challenge) the expenditure, administration and policies of the government of the day. The leader of the House of Commons, Robin Cook stated 'Good scrutiny makes for good government'. It often comprises scrutinising the wider context in which government is working. To examine and challenge the work of government is normally understood to be one of the three primary roles of Parliament, the rest of which are passing legislation and authorising the government to vote financial grant. This means that legally or by convention the scrutiny body can require the representative of government to explain or justify their individual or organisational decisions,
One Select Commitee have a role that crosses departmental boundaries such as the Public Accounts or Environmental Audit Committees. Other Commons Committees are involved in a range of on-going investigation, for instance, administration of the House itseld or allegations about the conduct of individuals MPs. Good Parliamentary scrunity has significant potential to improve the effectiveness of government, shaping the way government goes about its business and succeeds or fails in achieving the outcomes it desires. Parliament committees are one of the key mechanisms used by Parliament to conduct
These might include personal, political, constituency and parliamentary objectives as well as, or instead of, a wish to increase the effectiveness of government. But different types of inquiry are most effective at producing different sorts of outcome. So it is important for committees to agree what impact they are trying to achieve before they embark on an inquiry.
When thinking about impact there can be a tendency among committee staff and MPs to focus on reports which are the most frequent output from inquiries. Although government has committed to respond to reports produced by parliamentary committees, we found that it is often the process which the committee goes through in conducting its inquiry that has as much, if not more impact on government
The inquiry process can also shape the wider context in which the government has to respond to a report, by building pressure through media attention. James Arbuthnot MP observed that 'the government is more likely to respond to something that has a background of pressure put on the government from