Strengthening parliament’s powers of scrutiny? An assessment of the introduction of Public Bill Committees

TL;DRAbstract

In November 2006 the House of Commons approved a series of changes recommended by its Select Committee on Modernisation that altered the procedures by which parliament scrutinises government bills. The committee stage of the legislative process in the House of Commons, the stage where bills are examined in detail, was overhauled in the interests of achieving enhanced scrutiny and a more informed and accessible legislative process. Standing committees, as were, were re-named ‘public bill committees’ and endowed with the power to call witnesses and receive written submissions from interested and expert bodies external to parliament, in the course of their scrutiny of a bill. To a limited extent, these committees have become more like select committees.
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\nThe introduction of public bill committees was an important innovation in the way the House of Commons scrutinises legislation. But it has not been subject to any evaluation. We encouraged Jessica Levy to pursue her Masters di

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