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Legislative Process

The hon. Gentleman makes my point for me. For years and years, the Executive have eroded the power of Parliament. We have the opportunity today to put the balance back a little further towards where it should be. It is not right that during the summer recess the only scrutineers of the Government are the media. The media have a role to play in scrutinising the Government but they are not elected, they do not have to respond to constituents, and many in the media have their own agenda. I have made clear in the House on several occasions my views in favour of September sittings. However, I am not suggesting that the House sits for two weeks in September and then reconvenes in October after the conference season. It is absurd and a waste of time and money to reconvene for a short period, only to break up again for a short period before Parliament starts properly in October. The new parliamentary term should commence in September and follow through until the Christmas recess. I see no problem in keeping the conference dates as they are. Not all Members go to the conferences anyway, and under my proposals Members would have the choice of attending the party’s conference or being present in Parliament. I am not suggesting that parliamentary time in September should be used to create new legislation or to force Divisions. I want to use September for innovation and to free up time for scrutiny. If Parliament sits in September, that month should be used for in-depth reviews of Government Departments. It is right that a Minister should come to the House in September and answer Members’ questions about a particular Department. Why not have a whole week’s review of the Department of Health? Time should also be set aside for parliamentary questions to be asked in the House and answered by the various Departments. The Prime Minister or his Deputy should come to the House each week and explain his actions. There would not need to be votes on matters brought before the House during this period, but it would provide much needed time for debate and to review and scrutinise the Government’s running of our country. That would give right hon. and hon. Members the chance to question Ministers on matters of importance to them and their constituents. Several reasons have been given as to why it would be impossible to begin the parliamentary term in September, and a deal of opposition has been expressed. Let us consider the objections. As a recent parliamentary answer by the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) suggests, the building works programme is planned to fit in with the expected parliamentary timetable, and by changing the timetable it would cost more because building works would have to be carried out in a shorter space of time. What a ridiculous excuse to use. There is no reason why works could not be planned around a new parliamentary timetable. I refuse to believe that that would cost taxpayers more money in the long run. Quite the reverse—if during September we were to properly scrutinise the Executive and Government Departments, we could perhaps save taxpayers millions upon millions of pounds. Are we really saying that building works should determine when the mother of Parliaments sits?