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  Parliament is the seat of government of the United Kingdom.
This seat of government is to be found in the Palace of Westminster and
comprises the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The actual government of
the country is run from government departments in Whitehall, with the Prime
Minister living and working from Ten Downing Street. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer is his next door neighbour.
The House of Commons consists of members elected at a General
Election and the House of Lords is the Upper House, essentially a revising
chamber, originally made up of life and hereditary peers, recently reformed to
removed most if not all of the hereditary peers, with further reform under
consultation.
Thus the United Kingdom Parliamentary system is bicameral,
with the House of Commons’ members elected for no more than five years on a
ballot of universal suffrage. Turnout, however, in the June 2001 Election fell
to 59.4% from 71.4% in 1997. This represented the lowest proportion of people
going to polling stations since 1918.
The functions of Parliament may be said to be two-fold:
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to hold the executive, that is the government, to account
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to scrutinise legislation introduced by the government by
way of Bills or statutory instruments prior to their submission to the Queen
for signature. |
 The constitution of the United Kingdom consists of the Queen
and her Lords and Commons, with a Church of England by law established.
Parliament therefore also scrutinizes ecclesiastical legislation forwarded from
the General Synod where this is not handled by the Synod itself. Such scrutiny
takes place through an Ecclesiastical Committee which then may expedite
legislation to both Houses for ratification and submission to the Queen.
In relation to Parliament’s latter role, Stuart Bell MP as
Second Church Estates Commissioner sits on the Ecclesiastical Committee and
guides ecclesiastical legislation through the House of Commons. He also answers
questions on behalf of the Church and will put the Church’s point of view on
major debates touching upon the moral issues of the day. He will also advise the
Prime Minister on church matters as these relate to Parliament or to the Church
Commissioners and provides a Parliamentary report to the Church Commissioners at
their annual general meeting presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Members of Parliament are elected to serve the nation in
Westminster but of course handle the many complaints and requests from their
constituents. The Prime Minister now has a postbag of 500,000 letters a week;
each Member of Parliament has a postbag considerably smaller but not less than
fifty to a hundred letters a day, not to mention e-mails and facsimile and
telephone messages. Members of Parliament thus find themselves with a dual
function: serving the nation through Parliament and serving their constituents
both through correspondence and calls to local agencies as well as national
agencies in Whitehall.
 House of Commons Commission
The House of Commons Commission is the supervisory body of
the House of Commons administration and is responsible for its policy, finance
and staff. The Commission is supported and advised by a Board of Management,
chaired by the Clerk of the House as Chief Executive. The Commission decides
matters of policy and appoints staff of the House and determines their pay,
pensions and other conditions of service.
The Commission was established by the House of Commons
(Administration) Act 1978 which provides that the Commission should have six
members: The Speaker as Chairman, the Leader of the House, a Member of the House
nominated by the Leader of the Opposition (normally the Shadow Leader of the
House), and three other Members appointed by the House. One Member of the
Commission acts as its spokesman in the House.
The Commission also has a close relationship with the Finance
and Services Committee, which is chaired by Stuart Bell MP as a member of the
Commission. The Commission refers matters for detailed examination to the
Finance and Services Committee. The Committee has responsibility for detailed
scrutiny of the House’s budget. In the year 2002, for the first time, that
scrutiny is linked to examination of the detailed work programme in support of
the Strategic Plan. More generally, the Committee has developed a role in
analyzing and advising on a wide range of proposals which come to the Commission
for decision. The Committee’s membership includes the Chairman of each of the
domestic committees (accommodation and works, administration, broadcasting,
catering and information).
More information on the Commission is available here.
This document series is provided by the House of Commons Education
Unit and are available to be downloaded here;
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Stuart
Bell
Alex
Finn
Keith
Miller
Geoffrey
Morgan
Kai Anderson
