How are they doing?
After the first clutch of select committee hearings - this morning , , Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Secretary Theresa May and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell were all in action before their committees - how much evidence is there that the new model elected committees under the guidance of elected Chairs is doing a better job of holding our rulers' feet to the fire?
The initial verdict seems to be "mostly yes". The Treasury Committee's hearings into the Budget have, unsurprisingly, been pretty technical affairs - but George Osborne and a variety of other worthies were, by all accounts, made to sweat a bit. The home secretary faced robust questioning on the Raoul Moat and Derrick Bird incidents and on impending cuts to police funding in England and Wales.
Marks for artistic impression and technical merit were a bit lower for the new Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, set up to monitor Nick Clegg's plans for sweeping reform to the voting system, and to Parliament. Some interesting lines emerged, not least the DPM's rejection of the idea that his party would pull out of the Coalition if voters rejected a new voting system in the referendum proposed for next May, but the session seemed to meander a bit, with members a touch too keen on long rambling statements which sometimes lacked an actual question.
Still the(and they are now "chairs" not "chairmen" in Commons Standing Orders) talk a good game - promising fewer wide-focus inquiries of the kind that produce 150 recommendations and a broadside of platitudes, and more short sharp interventions which are aimed to influence policy while issues are still "live".
And that may be the challenge for ministers; the committees want to play, rather that watch from the stands. Margaret Hodge, Chair of the powerful financial watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee, wants inquiries focused on current issues like the cost and efficacy of means-testing public services, and the scope for more efficient management of IT, land and buildings and the like. She hopes to spend less time berating civil servants over some fiasco which happened five years earlier. And she plans to hold follow-up inquiries to see if the lessons her committee reveals have been learned, and recommendations put into effect.
Similar language is coming from most of the other Chairs as well. So ministers hoping that some committee's endorsement will provide political cover for painful cuts can expect to have to work for it.
Next week more committees are having "getting to know you" sessions with their secretary of state. The Scottish and Welsh secretaries are before their committees and Transport supremo Philip Hammond is before the Transport Committee a week on Monday. Foreign Affairs won't get William Hague until September, because he's touring the Far East. I'll have a more complete digest for your delectation tomorrow.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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