Scrutiny of Parliament

An overview of the three main ways Parliament holds government to account
There are three different ways that Parliament holds the government to account: these three ways are questions, debates and committee which examine and challenge the work of government
The first one is questioning government ministers. In the Commons, the Prime Minister answers questions every Wednesday and ministers from each government department answer the questions orally on a rota basis. In the Lords, government ministers are questioned every day.
Questions may be answered in two different forms: oral forms and writing forms.
The second on is debating. Debates in the Commons look at national and international issues and can be on any subject. The Lords debates and revises major legislation, and also general debates and discuss subjects of topical interest.
Committees: examine issues in detail, from government policy and proposed new laws, to wider topics like the economy. Committees made up of around 10 to 50 MPs or Lords.

The role of ‘questions’ to Ministers in the House of Commons and House of Lords

Members of Parliament oblige minister to explain and defend the work, policy decisions and actions of their Departments. However, the House of Commons and the House of Lords question the government in different ways:

Questions from House of Commons, which is called ‘Order of Oral Questions’, relate to the responsibilities of the government department.

Questions from House of Lords are not as the Commons dose, the Lords focuses on questions to the Government as a whole.

The role of Select Committees

Select Committees check and report on areas ranging from the work of government departments to economic affairs. The aims of Select Committees are offering advices, to producing reports and altering legislation.

Besides,Select Committees work in both the Commons and the Lords:

The Commons Select Committees are always focusing on examining the work of government departments which include spending, policies and administration.While the Lords Select Committees concentrate on four main areas: Europe, science, economics, and the UK constitution. They spend most of their time on investigations of specialist subjects.