Searching For Evidence

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's Evidence Week in the House of Commons and on Inside Briefing, we’re interrogating just how effective Parliament actually is at scrutinising and testing policy. We’re joined by Tracey Brown, director of Sense about Science, the independent charity that promotes the public interest in sound science and evidence. We’ll also hear from former Chancellor Sajid Javid, whose big idea for a more effective Parliament is half the MPs… on twice the pay. And, as Rishi Sunak skips out on PMQs once again, we ask if the Prime Minister himself is scrutinised enough. Alex Thomas presents, with Cath Haddon and Alice Lilley. Produced by Alex Rees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome to this episode of Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.9	I'm Alex Thomas, today's podcast host. This week, we're going to jump into Parliament,
0:19.7	and particularly how it helps or hinders good
0:21.7	policymaking. We all know the way it goes. The government triumphantly unveils a new policy or
0:26.3	piece of legislation. Our elected representatives then take as much time as is needed to scrutinise, test,
0:32.1	check that it's been thought through, built on rock-solid evidence, and will be sure to do what the
0:36.3	government intends. Perhaps that only
0:38.5	happens in the House of Lords. It's a good week to take a step back because this week is
0:43.4	Evidence Week in Parliament. We'll ask how good Westminster is at scrutinising policy and how much
0:49.0	evidence is actually used when policies are designed, which will then lead us on to talk about just how much all this
0:54.8	is down to what we expect from our MPs. What expertise and evidence should they actually
0:59.7	bring? What should their job involve? How much should they get paid? And while we're talking about
1:04.5	scrutiny, does the Prime Minister get scrutinised enough? Well, this week he skipped PMQs, but he did
1:10.0	attend a committee hearing with MPs. Is that
1:12.4	enough or is it time for a new approach? So all that's to come with a top IFG duo alongside me throughout,
1:18.9	senior researcher and parliamentary expert, Alice, hello Alice. Hi Alex. And program director and in-house
1:24.3	historian Kath Haddon. Hello, Kath. Hello. They've both spent the week
1:27.6	busily scrutinising Johnny Birsto's controversial dismissal. The Australians, that was totally fair play, wasn't it?
1:32.7	You know what, Alex, I think I've worked through it now. My emotions have calmed night. I just followed the rules. That's what we're about at the I-FG.
1:49.8	But no, agree with you on the last night. And I'm delighted that we're joined today by Tracy Brown,
1:54.2	director of Sense About Science, the independent charity that promotes the public interest in sound science and evidence. Hi, Tracy. Hello. So without further ado, let's get on to the evidence.
2:00.3	Tracy, an opener. What is Evidence Week?
	...

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