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Home I am a civil servant Events Civil Service Live News Day 3 – Rebels with a cause

Civil Service Live

Rebels with a cause

This content is written by the Civil Service News Team

What is Parliament actually like? Those of us who don't work there all have our preconceptions and misconceptions. To give us a picture of truth, three clerks of the House of Commons did some myth busting at Civil Service Live.

Some think that MPs have more and more become 'poodles' of the party line. Mark Hutton, clerk of the Procedure Committee, explained how the opposite is true. As MPs have become increasingly 'constituency focused' over the last five to ten years, they've become increasingly important political figures locally, reliant on their constituents' views and 'more inclined to vote how they said they would vote in the past and how their constituents want them to vote rather than how the party wants them to vote.'

As he said, 'MPs are now more rebellious of the party whip than they've been for the last 10, 20, 30 years... There is a greater independence of mind demonstrated in their parliamentary activity.'

And MPs are also making sure they change with the times with more public access and participation through technology and the internet. The recently redesigned parliamentary website now offers a 'bill tracker service' that gives any member of the public access. Online public petitions are also seen as likely to increase in importance in Parliament.

Vandalising the antique?

So are such changes as these constitutional shifts? Matthew Hamlyn, Head of the Scrutiny Unit, Committee Office, thinks not, 'the constitution has proved to be tough over the last three hundred years - more so than pretty much any other.' It is not, despite some people's view, a 'delicate antique' that will fall apart if you tweak it. That said, the clerk's role itself has changed and expanded over the years. Up to the 1950s, Matthew put forward, 'we had a kind of priestly role - we were guardians of procedures'. Now most clerks, though still doing this, also spend two-thirds of their time in select committees.

However, it's good to know that some things are continuing the great British history of 'making do': though Prime Minister's questions are now chosen in 'the shuffle' using a computer algorithm. This system will only allow two shuffles a day but if a third is needed, as it sometimes is, Jessica Mulley of the Table Office says 'a colleague will don a big box over his head and pick pieces of paper'.

Links
The Bill tracker service
http://bills.ais.co.uk/AC.asp