Parliamentary Questions

Parliamentary questions form a central part of the life of Parliament. "Question Time" is probably the best known feature of parliamentary life. Yet for more than a quarter of a century there has been no major study of this core feature of the British Parliament. This book is the first major study of parliamentary questions since Chester and Bowring's classic work of 1962. Since then, parliamentary questions have undergone dramatic changes. They are far more numerous. A fixed Prime Minister's "Question Time" has been introduced. This study identifies and analyzes the changes and put them in a wider political context. The contributors identify the pressures that have led to the major changes in parliamentary questions in recent years, and consider what has happened in the rules governing questions, what takes place on the floor of the House, why MPs ask questions, what effect they believe they have, what they do with them, and what use is made of them outside the House of Commons. There is also a substantial chapter looking at questions in the "other place" - the House of Lords. The editors conclude with a discussion of the pressures facing parliamentary questions in the 1990s.Table of ContentIntroduction - Parliament since 1960, Philip Norton; evolving rules, Helen Irwin et al; on the floor of the House, R. Borthwick; questions and members, Mark Franklin and Philip Norton; questions and departments, Philip Giddings; questions in the House of Lords, Donald Shell; questions outside Parliament, Philip Norton; questions and the role of Parliament, Philip Norton.