Seeking views on the work of the Backbench Business Committee
10 December 2014
The Committee is compiling an end-of-Parliament report on its work since it was first established in 2010. This will allow the Committee to list the experiences (positive and negative) of what has worked and what hasn’t worked well since the Committee was first established in 2010.
Submit your views about the Backbench Business Committee
The Committee is seeking the views of backbenchers but also of academics, journalists and members of the public on the performance of the Committee. The Committee would be very grateful if you could answer some or all of the questions below or write separately with your views. It would be helpful to receive replies by not later than Monday 12 January.
Please send replies to Robin James, Clerk of the Backbench Business Committee, Table Office, House of Commons, or to jamesrg@parliament.uk
1. What has been your experience of the Backbench Business Committee?
2. Is the time made available by the Government for backbench debate adequate? [The Standing Orders require that 35 days of backbench time should be provided per Session, of which 27 must be in the Chamber. This works out at about one day per sitting week.]
3. The Committee has selected topics for debate based on all or some of the following criteria:
- topicality
- the amount of time available and requested
- why it is felt important for a debate to be held
- when the topic was last debated (and how much interest there was on that occasion)
- breadth of interest across all parties
- why such a debate is unlikely to be secured through other routes.
Are these appropriate criteria? Should there be others?
4. The Committee can allocate general debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall, and debates on votable motions in the Chamber. Debates can be of varying lengths, the standard length being 3 hours for (about) 15 speakers. Is this an appropriate range of options?
5. Do you feel that the Committee has approached its work in a fair-minded and non-partisan way?
6. Are there any improvements that could be made to the way debates are organised?
7. Most backbench debates take place on a Thursday afternoon, after the conclusion of whipped business for the week. Is this a problem? Should backbench debates should have a set day every week?
8. How useful is it that backbenchers can put a motion for decision to the House?
9. Has the Committee’s role in relation to e-petitions been useful? [NB The Procedure Committee recently recommended that a separate House of Commons Petitions Committee should be established in the next Parliament, as part of a wider revamp of the e-petitions system.]
10. Compared to the situation before 2010, have backbench debates made a difference? And if so, how?
11. How effective have backbench debates been in influencing (a) the Government, (b) parliamentary opinion, (c) opinion-formers outside Parliament and the general public?
12. What assessment do you make of media coverage of backbench debates? Could the Committee’s use of the media, and of social media such Twitter, be improved?
13. Should the Backbench Business Committee should be given different powers and responsibilities?
14. What do you think has been the overall impact of the Backbench Business Committee? Has it been, to your mind, largely positive or negative?
Backbench Business Committee
The Backbench Business Committee meets weekly on Tuesdays at 1pm to consider requests for debates from any backbench Members of Parliament on any subject, including those raised in e-petitions or national campaigns.
An MP must make a representation before the Committee for an e-petition or petition to be debated; e-petitions exceeding the Government's 100,000 signature threshold are not automatically allocated backbench time.
The Committee then has to decide how to allocate the limited Parliamentary time it has at its disposal. The Committee's meetings are always conducted in public and can be watched on Parliament TV.