Events / Members

The Modernisation Committee’s potential for reform

19 Nov 2024
Kemi Badenoch faces Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on 11 December 2024. © House of Commons
© House of Commons

The House of Commons has appointed a new Modernisation Committee and issued a call for views on what it should address.

So what is the Modernisation Committee, and what should it be doing?

Our Director, Dr Ruth Fox, led Hansard Society members in an online discussion on Modernisation Committee reforms.

6:30-7:45pm, Tuesday 19 November 2024 online via Zoom

This is a meeting for Hansard Society members and their friends. Not already a member of the Hansard Society? Join us now!

A new Modernisation Committee has been established to explore potential reforms to the House of Commons’ procedures, standards and working practices.

Chaired by the Leader of the House of Commons, Rt Hon Lucy Powell MP, the Committee has issued a call for views. We invite members and their friends to join us in discussing the Society’s planned response. Whether you have views of your own, would like to ask questions, or would simply like to hear what others think, this is a key moment in the parliamentary cycle for us all to reflect and shape the Hansard Society’s contribution to the debate.

Dr Ruth Fox is Director of the Hansard Society and co-host of our weekly Parliament Matters podcast. Ruth’s research focuses on parliamentary strengthening, constitutional reform, and public attitudes to politics. She is the co-author of The Devil is in the Detail: Parliament and Delegated Legislation, the first detailed study of the parliamentary scrutiny of delegated legislation for decades. She regularly gives evidence to parliamentary select committees and contributes to a wide range of current affairs programmes on radio and television, commentating on parliamentary process and political reform.

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