Wednesday 8 April 2009

Very select?

If you or I only turned up for work six days out of 10, questions would be asked by our employers.

But for MPs on select committees an absence rate of around 40 per cent is par for the course.

The eleven members of the select committee on Welsh affairs managed an overall attendance rate of 60.4 per cent last year, only slightly below the average for Commons committees.

The average disguises variations between MPs. One - the chair, Hywel Francis - went to all 42 meetings. He believes his committee is a hard-working one.

Three members attended fewer than half. David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, went to just eight, largely due to his membership of the slightly more prestigious home affairs committee.

Other members and the number of meetings attended: Nia Griffith 18 out of 42, Sian James 23/42, David Jones 35/42, Martyn Jones 16/42, Alun Michael 31/40, Albert Owen 25/42, Mark Pritchard 19/34, Hywel Williams 28/42 and Mark Williams 30/42.

All MPs have other duties, of course, and the introduction of more "family-friendly" hours at Westminster has made it harder for backbenchers to pack everything into a contracted working week.

The committee plays a growing role scrutinising requests from the Welsh Assembly for more law-making powers, a role that has won it critics as well as friends.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give us all the attendances, David. Let's see how hard the rest are working.

Anonymous said...

very underestimated MP is Hywel Francis. may be it ought to have get out of jail free card. If you miss more than three meeting -your out and someone more committed comes in.
may be even a mix of AMs and MPs, or even some good relevant non elected people.

David Cornock said...

I've updated the post to include the number of meetings attended by individual MPs.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Hywel Francis paid extra as chair to be there?