Evidence to the Speaker's Conference on Parliamentary Representation

Peter Riddell, Hansard Society Chair, and Dr Ruth Fox, Director of the Parliament & Government programme, have given oral evidence to the Speaker's Conference on Parliamentary Representation. The Conference is considering, and will make recommendations for rectifying, the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large.

A transcript of the hearing will appear on this webpage and a video can be found here. The Speaker's Conference is also currently hosting an online forum where the public can give their views on the issues under consideration.

People and Parliament: Hansard Society gives evidence to the Lords Information Committee

The Hansard Society has given oral and written evidence to the House of Lords Information Committee's inquiry on People and Parliament, which is looking into how the House of Lords can improve public understanding of its work and role, and how people would like to interact with the House of Lords and Parliament.

The inquiry was prompted by a debate in the Lords initiated by Lord Norton of Louth, for which we produced a briefing paper, and during which the Hansard Society's work received many favourable references.

Audit of Political Engagement 6

The annual Audit of Political Engagement carried out by the Hansard Society measures the nature and extent of political engagement and reveals where views have changed - and where they remain constant. It offers a yearly snapshot of political knowledge and engagement in Britain.

Audit 6 has a special focus on the public's attitudes to political participation and citizenship and explores issues such as the degree to which people want to be actively involved in decision-making locally and nationally, how influential in decision-making they feel they are, and how satisfied they are with the system of governance in Britain. This Audit indicates that an ‘Obama effect' may be developing among British black and ethnic minorities (BMEs):

- 41% of BMEs agree that ‘when people like me get involved in politics, they really can change the way that the country is run' compared to 31% of whites - a 10% increase since 2007
- 42% of BMEs are ‘very' or ‘fairly' interested in politics -a 15% increase since 2007
- 43% think the present system of governing works well compared to 32% of whites - the first time in six annual Audits that BME respondents are more optimistic than whites

Download the full Audit of Political Engagement 6

Handling a legislative emergency

Hansard Society gives evidences to the Lords Constitution Committee

Dr Ruth Fox, Director the Parliament & Government Programme, recently appeared before the House of Lords Constitution Committee inquiry on emergency legislation.

Whether it’s the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 which facilitated the nationalisation of Northern Rock or the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, emergency legislation has often been controversial.

What makes for Good Government?

Robin Cook, when Leader of the House of Commons, succinctly described the purpose of parliamentary scrutiny functions: ‘Good scrutiny makes for good government’. We wholeheartedly agree with this view, and to this end the Parliament & Government programme recently submitted evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee's inquiry into Good Government.

Our evidence paper looks at our proposals in two specific areas, parliamentary scrutiny of government finance and government legislation, drawing from our recent publications The Fiscal Maze and Law in the Making. It also looks at recent developments in the area of parliamentary scrutiny of the executive as a whole

Briefing for Lords' debate on Parliament's communication with the public

Professor the Lord Norton of Louth has secured a debate in the House of Lords "to call attention to the case for enhancing Parliament's ability to communicate with members of the public."

To contribute to the Lords' debate we have produced a briefing paper entitled Enhancing Parliament’s Ability to Communicate with Members of the Public summarising our research and recommendations, and assessing where progress still needs to be made.

More bills, please, we’re British

Writing for Our Kingdom, Susanna Kalitowski analyses the latest Queen's Speech and argues that bigger is not better when it comes to legislation.

A passion poisoned by process?

Writing in The House Magazine, Susanna Kalitowski interprets the latest survey of public attitudes to Parliament.

Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions

The Westminster Parliament is the heart of democracy in the United Kingdom. But in this age of widespread political disenchantment, how do the British people view the nation's supreme representative body? In an effort to shed further light on the public's complex relationship with Parliament, we commissioned ComRes to conduct a poll examining people's attitudes towards the institution. The results reveal strikingly low levels of knowledge about Parliament, as well as some surprising perceptions about its role.

Your Parliament - 1964 edition

Part of the Parliament and Government programme's work to increase the public’s understanding of politics has been to produce accessible information on the workings of the political system in the United Kingdom. We recently came across what was probably our first effort in this area – a beautifully illustrated booklet entitled Your Parliament that the Society initially published in 1951.

A scanned copy is available to download for historical interest and for comparison with the Your Parliament: Make it work for you (2008).