In October 2015 I wrote a post about how research gets into Parliament. Six months on, in April this year, I had a Twitter conversation with Matthew Purvis, head of research services in the House of Lords Library. Matthew told me that there are a couple of other ways that research gets into Parliament, which I didn’t know about when I wrote my original post. So below is an update. Updates are in italics in the text, but here’s a summary of what’s new:
Research also gets into Parliament:
- in Lords Briefing Packs (no. 6)
- through Lords Library responses to Peers’ questions (no. 8)
- through the House of Lords Library Current Affairs Digest (no. 9)
Nine ways research gets into Parliament (pdf here).
-
Through the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST)
- POST provides independent, balanced analyses of topics in science and technology for both MPs and Peers
- The office publishes short briefings on relevant topics and also hosts events
- Input comes from a wide variety or sources including both academics and their research
- Committees set an agenda for inquiries they want to carry out
- They also ask for ideas for inquiries on Twitter or their webpages
- They get written and oral evidence from various sources including academics
- The outcome of an inquiry is a report, which Government is obliged to respond to
-
Through All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)
- APPGs are composed of MPs and Peers who have an interest in a particular area, e.g. ‘the aluminium industry’, ‘arts, health and wellbeing’ and ‘biodiversity’ (they are a bit like university societies)
- They hold meetings on different topics with invited speakers who are sometimes academic researchers
-
Through Political Researchers
- Some MPs employ researchers to work in their offices, carry out research and gather information for them
- An MP’s position in Government, for example ‘shadow secretary of state for health’, will impact on the sorts of information the researcher is tasked with gathering
- MPs and Peers have specific areas of interest on account of: the nature of their constituency; their political affiliation; or their general interests
- One of the ways they find out more about these areas of interest is through engaging with academics in relevant disciplines
-
Through Commons Debate Packs and Lords Briefing Packs
- When a debate is planned for a particular topic, for example ‘shale gas’, library specialists quickly compile briefing packs for MPs and Peers ahead of the debate
- Packs may include news items, press releases and parliamentary material
- They may also include information from research centres
- (Lords Briefing Packs are not available externally)
-
Through Commons Research Briefings and Lords Library Notes
- The House of Commons and House of Lords each have a library
- The Commons library has a number of subject specialists who research and write briefings on relevant topics
- The Lords library also produces briefings
- Some of the input comes from academics and their research
- The House of Commons and House of Lords libraries provide a confidential service for MPs, Peers and their staff wherein they can submit requests to the libraries for answers to questions they have
- Academic research, as well as other sources of information, may contribute to the response
-
Through the House of Lords Library Current Affairs Digest
- The House of Lords Library publishes a weekly current affairs digest
- The digest summarises articles from a variety of sources including journals, magazines, the press, think tank reports, blog posts and speeches
- Summaries are grouped into six areas: social policy, science, economic affairs, home affairs, international affairs and the constitution
A version of this piece originally appeared on Sarah Foxen’s personal blog and is reposted with permission.