R11-34

These recommendations are for the Speaker and the Speaker's Committee to comment on. The Speaker's Committee is sympathetic to the arguments underlying recommendation 34, and sees the advantage of holding sessions in public (except when the Speaker attends meetings). The Speaker's Committee response states that "It must, in the Committee's view, be for the Speaker of the day to judge the extent to which he or she needs to attend meetings to be sufficiently personally involved in the work of the Committee for it to operate as the House intended. The Speaker therefore needs, in the Committee's view, to remain a full member of the Speaker's Committee and it would therefore not want to see the level of the Speaker's involvement reduced to that of his formal involvement in the work of the Parliamentary Boundary Commissions".The Speaker’s Committee does however recognise that there may be advantage in introducing greater flexibility in this area.
The Government supports the stance taken by the Speaker's Committee, and welcomes the Committee's intention to investigate other ways of providing more information on its work. The Government would also be content to explore with the Speaker’s Committee what, if any, legislative changes might facilitate this process.
The Speaker's Committee supports recommendations 36 and 37. The Government also welcomes these recommendations which will assist in the continuing effective scrutiny of the Electoral Commission as it moves forward.
The Speaker's Committee First Report 2007, p.12.