The House

Parliament's December Scrutiny Week is over. The House looks at the eternal tussle between politics and actual oversight, and the interlocking problems of scale and attention that mean you will miss most of it.

Headlines from scrutiny week honed in on the heated clashes, but behind the scenes the unglamorous work of number-crunching carried on.

Parliament’s biannual Scrutiny Weeks involve a sudden glut of oversight, but what reaches the public is only a glimpse behind the curtain.

The first week of Parliament's final sitting block of 2025 is solely focused on scrutiny on past Government spending. It began with a back and forth on animal welfare.

A late night voting error during a fourth evening of urgency last week forced the Government to end urgency sooner than expected.

Urgency was the theme of the week at Parliament this week, both in the House and during the ongoing Standing Orders review into Parliament's rules.

MPs are working on 13 bills under Urgency this week but numerous amendments and drawn out voting sessions threaten to slow the process down.

A bill reducing charges for clean vehicle imports has passed through under urgency at Parliament.

MPs are working on passing bills through various stages under urgency this week with one of those stages involving putting legislation under the microscope

In the last week of the penultimate sitting block of the year, the House was moved into urgency for the progression of 13 government bills.

A loophole in parliamentary rules has avoided a debate, shortened a committee report back time, and resulted in 11 days for the public to have their say on proposed fast track amendments.

Amidst political distractions Parliament continued to consider legislation, with four government bills completing their legislative journeys this week. Two enjoyed relative consensus across the House. The other two not so much.

Question time was pushed back on Wednesday this week so that the House could address the report of the Independent Police Conduct Authority

Question time is usually all about Ministers but today had an extra question directed at an MP outside the executive.