About the Study of Parliament Group

On this page:   Introduction   Membership   The Executive Committee   History

See also: Details of some of the academic members.

Introduction

The formal statement of what the Group is to do is as follows:

• To best advance and further public education in the art or science of government through Parliament (including the working of Parliament and Parliamentary institutions) or other branches of political science;
• To best advance and further the study of and research into methods of government through Parliament (including the working of Parliament and Parliamentary institutions) or other branches of political science, in and for the benefit of the community as a whole, and to publish the results of such study and research;
• to best advance public education in forms of parliamentary government and representative assemblies (whether or not such forms shall be actual or theoretical).

Membership

1. past and present staff (including graduates holding post-doctoral research positions) of universities and other academic or research institutions;
2. postgraduate research students currently registered at a university within the United Kingdom;
3. past and present officials of two Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, Tynwald, the Oireachtas and the Channel Islands parliaments; and
4. other persons having a serious and proven interest in the objects of the Group, not being members of any of the above legislatures when first elected to membership.

Candidates' details are circulated to existing Group members for their views by email (usually in batches, roughly once a month), and then the Executive Committee considers the applications (again, usually by email rather than waiting for a meeting). Initial inquiries, preferably accompanied by details of work done in the areas of the Group's interests (see above) should be addressed to:

• categories i, ii and iv: Dr Louise Thompson (louise.thompsonsurrey.ac.uk)
• category iii: Dr Michael Everett (everettmrparliament.uk).

The current annual subscription is £25 (apart from category ii, where it is £10): this will be asked for if and when the application has been successful.

Some of our academic members have given details of their interests here.

The Executive Committee

President: Sir Paul Silk KCB (Formerly Chair, Commission on Devolution in Wales)
Chair: Colin Lee, Chamber and Committees team, House of Commons
Deputy Chair: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Professor of Politics, University of Leeds
Secretaries: (official) Dr Michael Everett, House of Commons
        (academic) Dr Louise Thompson, Lecturer in British Politics, University of Surrey
Treasurer: Henry Midgley, National Audit Office
Newsletter editor: Dr Phil Larkin, Lecturer in Public Policy, University of Canberra
Other members:
    Huw Yardley, Chamber and Committees team, House of Commons
    Ayeesha Waller, Parliament Office, House of Lords
    Emily Baldock, Parliament Office, House of Lords
    Christine Salmon Percival, Parliament Office, House of Lords
    Professor Graham Gee, Professor of Public Law, University of Sheffield
    Lucinda Maer, Head of the Parliament and Constitution Centre, House of Commons Library
    James Johnston, Scottish Parliament
    Simon Patrick OBE (webmaster), Chamber and Committees team, House of Commons (retired)
    Jack Simson Caird, House of Commons Library
    Hannah White, Institute for Government
    Joel Blackwell, Senior Researcher, Hansard Society
    Professor Lord Norton of Louth, Professor of Government and Director of the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull

History

In 1985 the Group published a short History entitled The Study of Parliament Group: The First Twenty-one Years, by Dermot Englefield. You can read it here (except for the Appendices).