POLITICS how effective is parliament in ensuring executive accountability - Essay Example

An accountable executive must be in a position to; meet statutory obligations and audit requirements, produce substantive evidence in court proceedings, withstand attention from and scrutiny of the media, meet set standards for accreditation and justify their actions to commissions of inquiry like parliamentary commissions and the Royal Commissions (Budge et al, 2003). Parliament is the highest representative organ of the government that individually and collectively accounts to the people. It therefore must reflect social and public concerns so as to remain legitimate and accountable in the eyes of the public.

By the mandate given in the constitution, parliament has a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability of the executive arm of the government and achieve this role by assuming oversight to all activities of the executive and all its auxiliary bodies. To do this effectively, parliament staff must be strengthened in their oversight role so as to deliver their mandate as non partisan officials of the state. Parliament therefore uses a number of mechanisms to check on the transactions of the executive.

In doing so, institutional accountability of parliament must also be maintained collectively. Since fosters of accountability must first show that they are accountable as well. This is achievable by the members of parliament developing a code of behaviour that will guide them as they pursue this mandate (Garnett et al, 2012). This essay is discusses the mechanisms put in place by parliament to hold the executive to account. It discusses these in detail, their pros and cons, and then concludes with an analysis of how effective they are in ensuring executive accountability.

First among these mechanisms is the use of parliamentary select committees, then there is ministerial question time and finally there is prime minister question time. The following section discusses these measures into detail. Select Committees Parliamentary select committees are committees that can be appointed by the House of Commons or the House of Lords or Joint Committees drawn from both houses. Examples of these committees are the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and the Joint Committee on Human Rights Respectively.

Committees may be sessional, which means they are permanent or near permanent, or they may also be ad-hoc, meaning they are appointed just to complete a certain task and then disbanded (Garnett et al, 2012). Committees in parliament are formed to ensure transparency, efficiency and accountability of executive and as stated earlier of parliament itself. The work of committees is primarily to pore over the transactions of the executive and ensure executive transparency to the public. Constitutional Committee This committee of the House of Lords spans across all parties and has the mandate has the mandate of resisting constitutional change that will harm the interest of the people.

It investigates a proposed amendment by engaging experts including members of the executive and the public before any amendments are made. Economic Affairs Committee The economic affairs committee is a committee of the House of Lords charged with the responsibility of scrutinizing the financial