– in the House of Commons at 5:53 pm on 22 February 2021.
Steve Brine
Conservative, Winchester
5:53,
22 February 2021
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Prime Minister has today outlined a very helpful road map for reopening our economy and our society. Does any such plan exist for our House of Commons? The Prime Minister obviously referred to Parliament in his statement. The House of Commons remains, by any standard, a Shadow of its former self in terms of the debate that is held, let alone the range and the effectiveness of scrutiny of the Executive, which is, after all, our job. Does any plan exist for the House of Commons, and when might we get sight of that?
Rosie Winterton
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving notice of his point of order. As he knows, the House’s procedures have adapted and continue to adapt in the light of covid-19. I do understand the points that he makes, but it will be up to the Government to bring forward a motion to extend or amend our current arrangements. I am sure that Ministers, including the Prime Minister, will have heard his comments.
I now suspend the House for three minutes to make the necessary arrangements for the next business.
Sitting suspended.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
The Deputy speaker is in charge of proceedings of the House of Commons in the absence of the Speaker.
The deputy speaker's formal title is Chairman of Ways and Means, one of whose functions is to preside over the House of Commons when it is in a Committee of the Whole House.
The deputy speaker also presides over the Budget.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The shadow cabinet is the name given to the group of senior members from the chief opposition party who would form the cabinet if they were to come to power after a General Election. Each member of the shadow cabinet is allocated responsibility for `shadowing' the work of one of the members of the real cabinet.
The Party Leader assigns specific portfolios according to the ability, seniority and popularity of the shadow cabinet's members.
