In recent years, Select Committees have become incredibly significant and effective at holding the executive to account. This ability to scrutinise has been propelled by the intense media coverage and public support for committee reports and inquiries. This is especially the case with issues such as the phone hacking scandal. With such a high profile of certain aspects of committee work, their scrutiny has been incredibly effective at forming and reforming aspects of government policy and conduct. Despite select committees being the most effective they have been in their entire history, there is still an incredible amount of scope for future reform and development. Select committees need to be more self-evaluative, in order to assess their
Corruption is a persistent problem that plagues the world and it knows no boundaries. Transparency International defines it as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain” (2013). For the purposes of this thread, ‘corruption’ is defined as any individual, collective, or structural act or process that permits the use of public authority or position for private gain. This definition captures the broad and many ways individuals and institutions abuse power and the public trust. In regard to whistleblowing, much conflict stems from the context in which the whistleblower is viewed.
In light of the recent Senate scandal, the public’s attention has been directed to the government’s credibility and its members’ discipline again. Mike Duffy’s 90,000 dollars scandal has put the Canadian government’s party discipline into the spotlight. While it is well-known amongst general public, there are other similar incentives and disincentives shared between the Members of the Parliament (MPs) and senators in keeping them disciplined, as well as some different ones that set them apart. In this essay, I am going to analyze the main levers of party discipline in the House of Commons and the Senate for their effectiveness. By comparing the similarities and differences, I will explain for the motivations behind the Senate, even if they have seemingly fewer incentives than the MPs, such as free of worrying about being re-elected.
In terms of scrutinizing the executive and actions of government, the House of Commons has a number of opportunities at its disposal, mainly in the form of debates and questions. The Commons is notorious for its constant debate; the Commons can express its views on foreign policy and international crisis, for example the 1956 debates of the Suez crisis and the emergency debate on the Falklands following the Argentinean invasion in 1982. Question time is also a very important example of an opportunity for the executive’s actions and plans to be publicly questioned as the meeting is now frequently featured on TV news and politics analysis programmes. This allows Her Majesty’s Royal Opposition to challenge the exec...
The executive branch is in charge in making many major decisions in daily government; by implementing the idea of leadership reviews it forces the head of parties to keep their policies in check and keep with their promises. This essay will argue that leadership reviews help to keep the government in check and hold them to their principles. Shown though the use of responsible government and voting checks this allows the public to be reassured that their elected officials are following through with promises that they made. In other words, leadership reviews are a useful way of assuring the public that the leaders of parties are not doing something that will negatively affect the economy and being held accountable to their words.
First, consider the Elected Official Safety Act. One can argue against it, chastising and criticizing it by vitriolic attacks on its validity, especially based on how it was stated. However, as this opinion will show, those attacks a...
Assess the responsibility of audit committees as well as internal auditors in relation to the Satyam scandal.
In Mellon’s article, several aspects are mentioned supporting the belief that the prime minister is too powerful. One significant tool the prime minister possesses is “… the power to make a multitude of senior governmental and public service appointments both at home and abroad,” (Mellon 164). Mellon goes on to state the significance the prime minister has when allowed to appoint the government’s key member...
Prior to the 2005 reforms, the appointment of judges to England and Wales’s judiciary was fraught with secrecy and bias with a total disregard for transparency and accountability. The old ways of appointment have been described as an “old boys” network of informality creating a self-sustaining system. John Griffith argues this i...
Since the 1950s there has been a rise in the power of the Prime Minister, specially Crossman in 1962 and Benn, who in 1979 referred to “a system of personal rule in the very heart of our Parliamentary democracy”. As Britain has remained the “world’s most successful representative democracy”. The role of the executive has significantly increased at a great deal since the end of World War 2, however, the outward dangers of a supplementary individual hegemony attached to the Prime Minister shouldn’t be overemphasized. Although the modern examples of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair whose styles of leadership have each been labelled as presidential. In this essay I will be assessing the four main prime minister’s power and if his or her powers constrained under the British system. For instances, the power of patronage, cabinet power, the party leadership and the mass media. These are four main factors of the prime minister and its effectiveness can be argued.
‘The Parliamentary legislative process fails to achieve its primary purpose: it fails to ensure effective legislative scrutiny of Parliamentary Bills.’ Discuss.
Human Resource management (HRM) can be defined and simplified in various ways. One definition is that HRM is to “get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats” (Collins, 2001). The People theory is a theory in HRM that includes Recruitement and selection- two major subjects in the HRM function which concerns people and their way to a job for them.This essay will treat and discuss these two topics, recruitment and selection and their importance to the HRM function.
When an organization is looking for new creative ideas, they should ask their employees. The employees of the organization have an in depth look and are more understanding to the needs of the organization because it is where they work and are involved. Managers can call on a group of employees and together, they can come up with solutions for the organization. “Group decision making is a type of participatory process in which multiple individuals acting collectively, analyze problems or situations, consider and evaluate alternative courses of action, and select from among the alternatives a solution or solutions” (Group Decision Making, n.d.,para.1).
A firm seeking to fill a vacancy has recruited a suitable pool of applicants. What characteristics should its selection process possess to ensure that the most suitable applicant is offered the job?
Political Accountability is regarded a necessary condition for all political systems, and can be defined as “a process of being called to account to some authority for one’s actions and involves both answerability and taking responsibility”.
Making decisions is an important part of our everyday life. Decisions define actions and lead to the achievement of goals. However, these depend on the effectiveness of the decision-making process. An effective decision is free from biases, uncertainties, and is deeply dependent on information and critical thinking. Poor decisions lead to the inability to achieve set objectives and could lead to losses, if finance is a factor. Therefore, it is important to contemplate about quality and ways to achieve it in decision-making, which is the focus of this paper. The purpose is to look into the needs of decision-making, including what one should do and what one should not do.