Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): MPs start their Christmas holiday tomorrow: they get nearly a month off. Then there is a one-and-a half-week half-term break in February, nearly three weeks off at Easter, two weeks for Whitsun and then nearly three months (22 July to 6 October) for their summar hols. Meanwhile, the world and government don't stop. Ministers will carry on working - making policies and taking decisions that affect all of us in the UK and abroad. But the MPs whom we elect to oversee their activities on our behalf will not be around to do so. This is a disgraceful waste of two resources that our weak Parliament actually has - its members and their time.
I am not being puritan about this. The loss of time and effort makes a major contribution to this country's democratic deficit. In a report published today, A World of Difference, a coalition of think tanks - Democratic Audit, the Federal Trust and One World Trust - examines how Parliament dealt with foreign policy issues during the 2006-07 session. To be brief, the answer is 'not very well'. The report finds that the vital resource of time is simply not being used effectively enough. Important scrutiny of departmental reports and the actions of ministers can be held up by years, partly because of the regular gaps in the timetable. The switch from an old-fashioned, often knockabout legislature which revolves around the debating chamber to a modern committee-based body that makes government accountable is being held back by old-fashioned gentlemanly hours. For this reason we recommend measures to move in the direction of a rolling year long programme. Other major institutions keep functioning. Parliament, supposedly the sovereign national body, must be able to as well.
The report - which examines a series of critical case studies - also explodes the myth that Parliament may not be any good at holding government to account on major issues - such as going to war or the gneral course of policy involving the US, EU etc. - but it at least performs well at the level of detail. Here again the authors (of whom I am one) find that MPs and peers very rarely influence government policy on issues like the use of cluster bombs, extraordinary rendition, the Reform Treaty negotiations. Gordon Brown's package of Governance reforms has to be beefed up if it is to make Parliament strong enough to make government accountable. The report has a number of good ideas, to see them go to: myforeignpolicytoo.org.
