Lords to question Director General of Deputy Prime Minister’s office
14 January 2015
The House of Lords Constitution Committee will tomorrow take evidence from Dr Philip Rycroft and Helen MacNamara as part of the Committee’s inquiry into inter-governmental relations in the UK.
Parliament TV: Inter-Governmental Relations inquiry
Inquiry: Inter-Governmental Relations in the UK
Select Committee on the Constitution
Witnesses
Wednesday 14 January 10.30am in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster:
- Dr Philip Rycroft, Director General of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office
- Helen MacNamara, Director of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat.
Possible questions
The session will look in detail at how inter-governmental relations between the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland work. The Committee will explore beyond the high level descriptions in the Memorandum of Understanding and will focus how the relationships work in practice.
Areas the Committee will cover will include:
- The different roles of the Cabinet Office and the Territorial Offices in organising inter-governmental relations.
- The lines of responsibility within the UK Government for maintaining relations with the devolved administrations.
- How the Cabinet Office keep track of policy overlap between the UK Government and the devolved administrations.
- How often staff are exchanged between the governments in the UK and how knowledge and best practice is shared.
- How devolved administrations take part in the development of UK Government policy.
- How agendas for Joint Ministerial Committee plenary and sub-committee meetings are set.
- What mechanisms exist to enforce adherence to the Memorandum of Understanding.
- How problems or disagreements are escalated to the Joint Ministerial Committee ‘dispute’ resolution procedure and by whom.
Further information
About Parliament: Select Committees
Visiting Parliament: Watch Committees
Image: iStockPhoto