The Other Side of Committee Work

Abstract

The previous chapter analysed the most visible output of committee work: the formal amendments being tabled and moved, successfully or unsuccessfully in every bill committee. It painted a picture of the activity taking place in committees that was not, on the whole, a positive one. An in-built government majority, coupled with strong party discipline, means that MPs are unable to constrain the government to any great degree through the formal mechanisms available to them in committee. But this does not show the true extent of committee scrutiny. Formal amendments are not the only means by which committee stage can bring changes to the content of a government bill. It is equally, if not more, important to consider what Blondel et al. describe as the milder influence of committees in the House of Commons (1970, p. 79). This type of committee influence cannot be identified simply by considering the success or failure of amendments or by analysing the text of a bill when it leaves committee. They require a deeper examination of committee proceedings, an analysis of the content of Members’ contributions to committee debate and to ministerial responses, as well as to proceedings at the report stage of the bill. Only by combining the visible outputs of committee performance with these less visible outputs can we build an accurate picture of the levels of constraint or viscosity being exerted by, and through, bill committees.