The House of Commons is merely a 'talking shop.' Discuss

... t planted or friendly questions are asked. This reduces parliamentary time further, and there is often endless debate on these issues. Other aspects which do not have any effective use are things such as the disproportionate cost excuse, where ministers refuse to answer questions because the information is not readily at hand. As is the case with other debates, question time often develops into party political points scoring, and no effective use of the time available is made. There is also Prime Ministers Question Time, and this is the main set piece of the parliamentary week. This supposedly gives MP's a chance to criticise and scrutinise the Prime Ministers policies. Tony Blair has revised the timetable for Prime Ministers Question Time, and it is now held twice weekly. Due to this, it is now possible to examine issues in greater depth, and MP's get a greater chance to speak. As a whole, it is argued that there are fewer opportunities to hold the government to account. There has been increased use of select committees under the New Labour government. It is a fact that the government has taken notice of the select committees reports on certain issues. An example would be in the Thatcher government in 1986. They acknowledged one hundred and fifty recommendations coming from select committees. They came from reports such as the child support agency, the mis-selling of pensions and in the trade and industry sector the government acknowledged recommendations over pit closures. In general, the government will dismiss select committees findings in the short run, but implement them at a later date. The select committees are possibly the only way where the members try to dilute the hold exerted by party politics, and attempt to produce unanimous reports. This is a real strength for the Commons, as the unity in the report signifies increased authority in it. They often produce reports that criticise the government, which may be regarded as a good thing, because it makes up for all the adversarial politics, and the party political points scoring. The Golden age of Parliament was between 1832 and 1868, this was the period when parliamentary strength over the executive was at its maximum. It was a time when the g ...