Finn Baker
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Finn Baker
@finnbaker.bsky.social
1.7K followers 770 following 270 posts
Former research assistant @instituteforgov
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finnbaker.bsky.social
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1990...
Engagements - Hansard - UK Parliament
Hansard record of the item : 'Engagements' on Thursday 7 June 1990.
hansard.parliament.uk
November 5, 2025 at 4:36 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
'Parliamentary Secretary' is used in departments without a SoS

(Not always properly adhered to though: Cabinet Office had a mix of secretaries and under-secretaries after Dowden was made 'Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office' in 2023)
January 14, 2025 at 6:01 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
You can browse the database yourself on our website. Hours of Christmas fun for all the family!

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-da...
IfG Ministers Database | Institute for Government
Search our database of all government ministers since 1979.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
December 18, 2024 at 12:22 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
A screenshot from the Institute for Government's Ministers Database, showing Baroness Sherlock's promotion
December 18, 2024 at 12:22 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
It’s a difficult balance - which is why it would be helpful for the Modernisation or Procedure Committees to set out a cross-party view on where that balance should lie, rather than forcing the Speaker to try to interpret the wishes of the House himself
December 15, 2024 at 8:11 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
When the previous Modernisation Committee gave the Speaker greater discretion to set a time limit on speeches, they recommended the limit never be less than 8 minutes. Certainly seems a principle worth revisiting

bsky.app/profile/finn...
finnbaker.bsky.social Finn Baker @finnbaker.bsky.social · Dec 11
This 1998 report recommends giving the Speaker power to vary the time limit on speeches but notes that "in our view [the limit] should never be less than eight minutes"

An 8 minute speaking limit would be a luxury in today's Commons
An excerpt from a 1998 report from the Modernisation Committee entitled 'Conduct in the Chamber'. It reads: "The changes that have taken place over the last few years in the rules governing short speeches have increased the discretion given to the Speaker both as to the time within which the limit can be imposed and the type of debate to which it can apply. We recommend that this discretion should be further extended to permit variations in the length of time allocated for speeches made under the Standing Order. There is nothing sacrosanct about ten minutes. There may well be occasions when, on a rather technical or emotive subject, a slightly longer period of, say, fifteen minutes might be more appropriate. On the other side of the coin, some debates are very severely time-limited. An opposition half-day debate, in which there art likely to be four front bench speeches, is limited to three hours, even if it starts on time. A debate on a piece of delegated legislation is normally limited to one and a half hours. Such legislation can be of great interest, such as the recent beef on the bone regulations. In such exceptional debates there may be a case for a speech limit of less than ten minutes. The formal limit would be for the Speaker to determine, although in our view it should never be less than eight minutes. Again there would be no difficulty in making the necessary Standing Order change, and no insuperable practical difficulty in operating the Table clock."
December 15, 2024 at 7:50 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
Assuming the membership is approved in time, the committee may well meet for the first time before Christmas on Wednesday 18th December

Read our @instituteforgov.bsky.social explainer on what happens next

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/ki...
Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill: What happens next? | Institute for Government
Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed second reading on 29 November by a wider than expected margin, 330–275.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
December 11, 2024 at 6:02 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
Source: bsky.app/profile/paul...
paulbrand.bsky.social Paul Brand @paulbrand.bsky.social · Dec 11
NEW: The committee of MPs who’ll scrutinise Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill in its next phase in Parliament has been announced.

23 MPs including palliative care minister Stephen Kinnock and justice minister Sarah Sackman.

Plus 11 backbenchers who voted for, 9 against.
December 11, 2024 at 6:02 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
Plenty of scope, then, for the current Modernisation Committee to revisit its earlier work, two decades on, and consider how previous reforms have functioned in practice
December 11, 2024 at 12:46 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
Likewise, this 2000 report on the operation of programme motions gives the example of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which had two days for Report before a programme motion was even agreed

Again, 20 years later, it would be very unusual for a bill to be given three days for report stage
An excerpt from a report from 2000 entitled 'Programming of legislation and timing of votes' describing the operation of programme motions in the 1999-2000 session. It reads: "Two days had already been given to the consideration of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, most of that time having been spent on new clauses, before a programme motion was agreed for the remaining provisions of the Bill. The motion provided for five blocks of one hour each for various groups of amendments and for proceedings on third reading to be completed by 10pm." [The remainder of the paragraph goes into more detail on the debate.]
December 11, 2024 at 12:44 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
This 1998 report recommends giving the Speaker power to vary the time limit on speeches but notes that "in our view [the limit] should never be less than eight minutes"

An 8 minute speaking limit would be a luxury in today's Commons
An excerpt from a 1998 report from the Modernisation Committee entitled 'Conduct in the Chamber'. It reads: "The changes that have taken place over the last few years in the rules governing short speeches have increased the discretion given to the Speaker both as to the time within which the limit can be imposed and the type of debate to which it can apply. We recommend that this discretion should be further extended to permit variations in the length of time allocated for speeches made under the Standing Order. There is nothing sacrosanct about ten minutes. There may well be occasions when, on a rather technical or emotive subject, a slightly longer period of, say, fifteen minutes might be more appropriate. On the other side of the coin, some debates are very severely time-limited. An opposition half-day debate, in which there art likely to be four front bench speeches, is limited to three hours, even if it starts on time. A debate on a piece of delegated legislation is normally limited to one and a half hours. Such legislation can be of great interest, such as the recent beef on the bone regulations. In such exceptional debates there may be a case for a speech limit of less than ten minutes. The formal limit would be for the Speaker to determine, although in our view it should never be less than eight minutes. Again there would be no difficulty in making the necessary Standing Order change, and no insuperable practical difficulty in operating the Table clock."
December 11, 2024 at 12:44 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
Also struck by how some of the committee's reforms have developed in unforeseen ways
December 11, 2024 at 12:44 PM
finnbaker.bsky.social
(More details on her new role here: questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...)
Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
questions-statements.parliament.uk
December 9, 2024 at 1:40 PM