Commons to hold the Executive to account. Agreement Select Committees have the power to set up inquiries, produce reports and request persons, papers and records and often operate in a bipartisan manner making them effective. The power of Select Committees to investigate government departments allows them to carry out detailed scrutiny, exposing issues in government policy and gaining significant media coverage – Amber Rudd and Windrush (AO2), meaning Select Committees are the most powerful way to hold the executive to account as they possess significant powers and receive a high level of media coverage (AO3). Since the Wright Reforms, Select Committees have become even more significant. Committee members tend to be more independently minded, chairs are elected and paid additional salary attracting high profile politicians (Jeremy Hunt, Yvette Cooper) whilst the Committee members build up significant expertise increasing the effectiveness. (AO2), so it is clear that the reforms have increased the expertise, profile and independence of Committees making them even more able to hold the government to account. (AO3). The Official Opposition is not as influential as Select Committees in general in holding the government to account. This is particularly the case where the government has a large majority (Thatcher/Blair), a divided opposition (Corbyn) or weak opposition leader (Duncan Smith) (AO2), showing that the nature of the majority system means that the Official Opposition is weaker than Select Committees (AO3). PMQs, Ministers’ Questions and Urgent Questions do not have the ability to shine the light on government decision making to the same extent as committees. In particular PMQs and Ministers’ Questions are so partisan and adversarial that there is only limited scrutiny and accountability. There is more heat than light whilst it is not widely watched by the public (AO2) so unlike Select Committees, questions are dealt with in a highly partisan manner and so are a very limited way to hold the government to account (AO3)

AO1: Select Committees have no enforcement powers and limited time and resources, reducing their effectiveness. AO2: Whilst governments have to respond to reports, they do not have to act on them and many reports do not get the media coverage that would bring real accountability to government. AO3: and so the lack of powers of Select Committees means that actually the reports make limited impact suggesting it is not the most effective mechanism. AO1: Select Committees need to operate in a bipartisan manner to be successful and this is not easy to achieve, whilst they are generally investigating issues only after they have occurred. AO2: The make-up of Committees means they work well when bipartisan, but party politics still influences what they can and do investigate, the questioning of witnesses and the level of criticism in reports. AO3: and so party politics still influences select Committees, and this often means some topics are left untouched and reports are not as critical as they may be limiting their influence. AO1: The Official Opposition is provided with both funding and a privileged position in parliament to hold the government to account. AO2: The Official Opposition gets additional funding, a key role in PMQs etc and in Opposition days to allow them to hold the government to account and with an effective leader and united party can be very effective – Blair up to 97, Cameron in the Brown years. AO3: meaning that the Official Opposition can be more effective than Committees due to its powers especially with an effective Leader of the Opposition. AO1: PMQs, in particular, gains huge media attention whilst there has been an increase in the number of Urgent Questions used in parliament. AO2: The rise in urgent questions and the fact that PMQs in particular, but Ministers' Questions as well get lots of media coverage gives the Commons a real chance to hold the government to account (Starmer v Johnson over Partygate). AO3: and so the high level of media interest is crucial here, turning this method into the most effective way to hold the government to account.