Currently Parliament is in recess until 21 April. It is not shutdown. Prior to the recess Parliament continued sitting long enough
to enact the Coronavirus Act 2020 which received Royal Assent on 25 March. Delegated legislation was made by the government using powers in Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (as amended) - see The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 - discussed further in this previous post . The Regulations are in force but parliamentary approval has yet to be obtained.
The health risk to Members and staff is obvious and Parliament could not continue to sit in its traditional way but the adjournment raises concerns about how the executive will continue to be held to account. Several aspects of the government's handling of the pandemic require answers from Ministers. Examples include provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) for those potentially exposed to the virus due to their work (e.g. NHS staff), the question of testing of individuals, and the problem relating to the availability of a sufficient number of ventilators.
Whilst individual MPs might be able to contact Ministers to ask questions, the fact remains that government is not subject to full parliamentary scrutiny. What steps are being taken in these circumstances to enable parliament to carry out all or some of its constitutional functions?
The House passed a motion to allow Select Committees to work remotely, so they can safely continue to scrutinise Government during this time of national crisis. Working together with Parliament’s Broadcasting Unit, the Parliamentary Digital Service enabled colleagues on the Health and Social Care Committee to hold Parliament’s first ever remote oral evidence session on Thursday 26 March.
Watch the session here.
The Speaker also explained on the "Today Programme" the ways by which the House is working to ensure scrutiny continues over recess whist allowing Government and officials to get on with tackling the Covid-19 crisis.
Also see Parliament 6 April 2020 - House of Commons Commissions thanks staff for virtual parliament strategy.
In a Press Release, the Electoral Reform Society Press release reports that "the new virtual Parliament plans are understood to require the consent of the Commons – which means the government must introduce a motion as soon as Parliament reconvenes. "It is likely to require cross-party agreement to nod it through, the former House of Commons clerk has stated" -see UCL The Constitution Unit - Democracy and the coronavirus: how might parliament adapt?
An interesting feature of the legislative response to cornavirus is the fact that the government did not use its "ready-made" powers under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA). This is discussed at Law Society Gazette 2 April. Orders made using the CCA require parliamentary scrutiny (section 27) and, importantly, under section 28 there are provisions requiring Parliament to be recalled if it stands prorogued at a time when emergency regulations are made. Similarly, if Parliament is on recess at the time, it must be reconvened. This may go some way to explaining why the CCA was not used but, as the Law Society article points out, by not using the Act the government evaded its important safeguards and adopted much weaker protections in the Coronavirus Act 2020.
The UK Parliament is not alone in facing these problems. See, for instance, the Epidemic Response of the New Zealand Parliament.
7 April 2020.
8 April - see Parliament TV Coronavirus Testing Committee
13 April - The Guardian - 'Hybrid' virtual parliament plans to be put to MPs next week
14 April - The Hansard Society - Proposals for a 'virtual' Parliament: how should parliamentary procedure and practices adapt during the coronavirus pandemic?
Parliament has an essential role as the guardian of our democracy. But the Coronavirus pandemic poses a huge and unprecedented challenge: how can parliamentarians conduct their core constitutional duties of holding the government to account, assenting to finance, passing legislation, and representing their constituents, when we are all required to adopt rigorous social distancing and, wherever possible, work from home?15 April - UCL Constitution Unit - Proposals for a virtual parliament
17 April - The Guardian - Slimmed-down 'virtual House of Commons' to sit next week
21 April - The House of Commons returned after recess and agreed a motion to permit remote participation - Hansard 21 April
22 April - Hansard Speaker's Statement - "Yesterday, the House agreed to a motion to allow Members to participate virtually in proceedings of the House, for the first time in 700 years of history of the House of Commons. I would like to welcome everyone, both Members joining us remotely from their constituencies up and down the UK, and Members here in the Chamber, to the first hybrid sitting of the House of Commons."
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