Ministerial statements
first report of session 2010-11, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence
Description:... Parliament should be at the centre of national debate. Too often details of important government statements appear in the press before they are made to Parliament. Such leaks adversely affect the ability of Members of Parliament to scrutinise the Government on behalf of their constituents. At present, it is the Ministerial Code that sets out the requirement that important announcements be made to Parliament first. However, the Ministerial Code is enforced by the Prime Minister and not by Parliament. The Committee does not believe that it is acceptable for the Government to regulate itself in this way. The House must be responsible for holding Ministers to account when they fail to honour their obligations to Parliament. The Committee therefore proposes that the House should have its own protocol which states that the most important government announcements must be made to Parliament before they are made elsewhere ...
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