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Administration Committee

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. He is leading toward the logical conclusion that unless Parliament’s own Standing Orders provide for how soon after a general election Select Committees should be created; unless we take control of issues such as the response that the Government are expected to give to departmental Select Committees; unless we, rather than the Government and Opposition Front Benchers, control this process—the hon. Gentleman’s own Front Benchers have not exactly covered themselves with glory in this regard in the past few weeks—the Government will always be able to refuse to reply to a report, or to refuse to create Committees that scrutinise the Government themselves. The anachronism is that the Government are the driving force behind setting up Committees that scrutinise the Government themselves, rather its being clearly established in our Standing Orders that Parliament is the driving force—