I was delighted to see the result of a survey, carried out by the Local Government Association and the Association of Electoral Administrators, showing that 98 per cent of electoral registration officers favour putting an end to the practice of selling the electoral register to commercial bodies. I have always opposed making the electoral register…
I have spent the past few days in Switzerland advising members of the Iraqi Constitutional Review Committee on the establishment of a second chamber. Agreement has been reached on creating a second chamber. The committee has responsibility for recommending the form it take. My role has essentially been twofold. One has been to explain the…
Select committees spend most of their time taking evidence, mostly oral evidence in public session, though a good deal of time is taken up reading written submissions. When a committee decides on an inquiry, it puts out a call for evidence and anyone wishing to submit evidence is free to do so. This may produce…
Howridiculous asked if I would make ‘Wit of Westminster’ a regular item. The extent to which humour is brought into debates depends primarily of course on members. Some can be extremely witty, whereas a few take themselves so seriously that they would never dream of saying anything that may cause laughter. There is one occasion each…
Parliament has started producing podcasts as part of its programme of utilising new media to explain what it does. It has produced one on how MPs and peers go about their work away from their respective chambers. Though the media focus is on the chamber, most time of parliamentarians is taken up with committees, correspondence, meeting with…
