Impact case study database

Campbell and Childs’ research has influenced parliamentary practices and promoted parliamentary reforms through several channels. Particularly notable was Childs’ report The Good Parliament (1) which drew on her research with Campbell to recommend child-friendly reforms to parliamentary practices, and also proposed institutional mechanisms to bring about reforms. Campbell and Childs have drawn on their research in giving evidence to enquiries on parliamentary practices, presenting their work to ad hoc groups, and working with leading parliamentarians. Childs has worked closely with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians network, updating the latter’s Gender Sensitising Parliaments Guidelines in 2020 (2).

Driving reform through institutional innovation and data collection

Campbell and Childs’ research on mothers and parents in Parliament fed directly into both the approach and recommendations of TGP. Drawing on her research on how change around gender and diversity issues happens in parliaments (R5 and R6), Childs sought to ensure that recommendations were linked to individuals or institutions that could promote change, with new institutions created where necessary. For example, she advised the then-Speaker of the House, John Bercow, to establish the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion. The Group subsequently drove the adoption of 18 of TGP’s formal recommendations.

The Good Parliament engaged with the IPU’s well-established ‘Gender Sensitive Parliaments’ auditing framework, and Campbell and Childs’ work contributed to the GSP Audit undertaken in 2018 (3). Specifically, the report presents the findings of a parenting survey undertaken by Campbell and Childs in 2017-18, updating their 2012 survey (R2).

Following an invitation in 2017 from the Greffier of the States of Jersey, Childs consulted with members of the Jersey States Assembly on promoting a diversity and inclusion agenda. Working with the Deputy and the Chief Minister Senator, the States of Jersey Assembly Diversity Forum was established in July 2017. The report on the establishment of the Forum cites her briefing on TGP, specifically on the need for an internal action group to promote reform, as the key driver for the creation of the Forum, which was modelled on the House of Commons Reference Group recommended by TGP (4). The Forum moved quickly to conduct a Gender Audit (States of Jersey Assembly Gender Audit 2019). Childs’ active involvement was pivotal in gaining support across the political spectrum for the aim of working towards a gender-sensitive parliament. The impact of TGP has been felt well past the Jersey States Parliament, and the recommendations from the Gender Audit are beginning to have an impact on policy and legislation across several areas (5).

Changes to House of Commons rules, procedures and practices

The Good Parliament contained a number of recommendations on improving the child-friendliness of the House of Commons. Recommendation 13 suggests that Parliament should ‘undertake a review for the provision of a creche facility on the Parliamentary Estate’. This review was carried out in 2017, a short term emergency childcare service was put in place, and today there is institutional provision of information about local suppliers of childcare. Recommendation 3 states that Parliament should ‘permit MPs to be counted at the ‘door’ of the division lobbies when accompanied by their children’. In March 2017, the Commons Reference Group endorsed this and it has become normal practice. Furthermore, a subsection of Recommendation 12 states that Parliament should ‘permit infants in the Chamber and committees’. This has also been realised. In September 2018, the Speaker permitted Jo Swinson MP to bring her baby son into a debate; in December 2019 three women MPs – Creasy, Reeves and Badenoch – brought babies to their ‘swearing in’; and in February 2020, the new Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle MP, announced that he would permit MP breastfeeding. These changes together demonstrate the institutionalisation of a more child-friendly House, reflecting the impact of Campbell and Childs’ research on the gender gap in parental status in Parliament as well as the effectiveness of TGP in finding effective reform levers.

Proxy Voting: Under Recommendation 12, which deals with Parliamentary policy around maternity and paternity leave, TGP recommended the appointment of ‘a proxy from amongst fellow party MPs’ who could ‘vote and otherwise act for’ MPs who were absent on parental leave. The House passed a motion in favour of proxy voting for parental leave on the 28^th of January 2019. This was initially for a pilot period of 12 months but, after Covid-19 related extensions on the 16^th January and 20^th July 2020, Parliament voted on 23^rd September 2020 to make the arrangement permanent.

This rule change required both Government support for tabling the motion and majority support amongst MPs. The motion was passed without requiring a division, reflecting the sustained mobilization of support that had occurred over the previous 3-4 years. The importance of proxy voting to equality of participation was recognised by women MPs who worked across party lines in the Commons Reference Group. The Mother of the House, Harriet Harman (Labour), worked closely with the Reference Group; the Speaker worked behind the scenes to garner support with party leaders, the Leader of the House, and the Chair of the Procedure Committee; the Procedure Committee was tasked with and undertook an inquiry into how to implement the House’s commitment; and in total three debates were held to allow parliamentary discussion.

The momentum of these processes is particularly striking since the government lost its majority in 2017, meaning that parliamentary votes were often tight and procedures for casting votes could make a real difference.

Job-sharing in Wales

Campbell and Childs were members of the Expert Panel on Electoral Reform convened by the (then) Welsh Assembly, which reported in 2017 (they participated on a job-sharing basis). The report of the Panel (6) cited Campbell and Childs’ research (R4) to highlight that job-sharing could have an impact on the diversity of political representation, and recommended practical steps for its adoption in the Senedd. While this was not taken up, in December 2019, the Assembly introduced a new Bill to allow for Jobshares for local council executives (Gov.Wales: New law to make it easier for more people in Wales to stand to be local councillors).

Wider impacts on debates and policies

Campbell and Childs are regularly called upon to contribute to policy and advocacy discussions, public debates and media events. In addition to their contributions at Westminster and Cardiff Bay, they have made presentations to committees of the Alberta State legislature, the Catalunya Parliament and the Finnish, New Zealand, and Canadian Parliaments about the need for measures to address the motherhood gap and the importance of data collection and gender auditing (see for example their evidence to Canada’s Standing Committee on the Status of Women (7)).

Campbell and Childs’ research has also been cited in support of the recommendations of reports and inquiries on promoting diversity in representation in several jurisdictions. For example, a report for the Scottish Parliament on how to improve the diversity of committee witnesses cited the recommendation in TGP that there should be systematic and comprehensive collection and publication of diversity data on witnesses for each session and each committee of Parliament (8). A briefing paper on Women in Parliament for the New South Wales Parliament cited TGP extensively, and also drew on R3 and R4 in discussing job-sharing (9).

The UK Freedom of Information Act (2000) and its sister legislation in Scotland (2002) secured the public right of access to information held by public authorities, setting out specific guidelines for requesting and reporting such information, and replacing voluntary and often unreliable ad hoc practices. Despite the strong belief of FOI’s supporters and promoters that it enhances decision-making and improves accountability, FOI has been intensely and publicly criticised as expensive, an unnecessary drain on resources, and potentially perverse in encouraging public bodies to be less, not more open. Tony Blair in his memoirs described himself as a ‘naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop’ for introducing FOI legislation, while David Cameron created a Commission in the expectation that it would expose the failures of FOI. Worthy’s research has contributed to the evidence base to counter these arguments, while also supporting initiatives to

strengthen the commitment of central, devolved and local governments to promote openness in ways which facilitate accountability and potentially improve trust in effective government.

**1. Strengthening FOI Legislation and Practice Across the Devolved Governments ** Between 2013 and 2018 Worthy worked on behalf of the Open Government Partnership, as the UK’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) The Open Government Partnership is an international initiative comprising civil societies, local and national government representatives and businesses formed ‘to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance’. Formed in 2011, it now covers 78 countries, representing a population of around 2,000,000,000 people (OGP, ‘About us’). Each country appoints an individual as the IRM who assesses their own government’s openness commitments and reports on how far these commitments have been implemented.

As the UK’s IRM, Worthy’s first report for the Open Government Partnership in 2015 (1) had a significant impact on the UK’s commitment to openness. The Cabinet Office accepted his recommendation to increase engagement with devolved governments. This led to the devolved administrations publishing their own commitments for the first time as part of the UK’s National Action Plan in December 2016. Worthy’s recommendation was vital in securing these commitments from the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland and Welsh Assemblies to strengthen FOI and ratify open governance practices (2).

Worthy’s recommendation that the devolved bodies should be specifically included in the Government’s national UK action plan directly led them to make separate commitments under the subsequent plan – a first and a highly important step in strengthening openness practices. As a result of these changes, the devolved governments have continued to publish action plans; Scotland is currently preparing its second action plan, while Wales and Northern Ireland are currently preparing new versions of their plans. The central UK and devolved government action plans commit their respective governments to clear, robust FOI policies, legislation and practice, further protecting and embedding FOI and open governance across the UK.

2. The development of FOI in the UK Independent CommissionIn 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron set up an Independent Commission on FOI to investigate potential reforms to FOI legislation. FOI defenders within and outside Parliament believed that this was intended to pave the way for the restriction of FOI. David Davis MP called it a ‘stitch-up’ ( Daily Politics, BBC Parliament, 8 September 2015), while Labour MP Tom Watson told Buzzfeed News that ‘In announcing the commission, the government are really saying they’re going to water down the act’ (17 July 2015).

In the event, the changes recommended by the report were minimal (3). They were (as BBC News commented at the time) ‘swayed by the evidence about how FOI actually works in practice’ ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35550967). Worthy made a substantial contribution to this evidence, making representations through a meeting with the chair and providing written evidence drawing on his research (specifically REF3, as well as earlier research done at the UCL’s Constitution Unit with Hazell and Glover) (4).

Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee conducted an inquiry into the operation of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, publishing a report in 2020 (5) which heavily cited Worthy’s oral and written evidence, which in turn drew directly on his research [specifically REF3 and REF5]. Arguments and findings taken up by the Committee included the effect of greater openness on organisational culture (paragraph 49), the need to update practices of proactive disclosure to take advantage of new technology (paragraphs 109, 136), and the anchoring effect of deadlines (paragraph 223). Worthy’s evidence influenced the report’s recommendations that the law should be amended to cover more types of information (such as electronic communications) and that there should be a new statutory duty to publish certain types of information.

Open DataIn their 2014 report on the progress of the Government’s Open Data agenda (6), the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) cited Worthy’s evidence, based on his 2013 paper [REF3] and his research for REF4, to describe the lack of an overall strategy and clear accountability mechanisms from the government on Open Data. In particular, the report described how the Government’s vision of lay citizens - so-called ‘armchair auditors’ - holding their local authorities to account had failed, taking their account directly from Worthy’s evidence to argue that the qualities and skills needed for a normal citizen to properly scrutinise local government are too rare for ‘armchair auditors’ to provide a realistic level of scrutiny (paragraphs 49, 54). PASC recommended that the Government should adopt a star-rating system for engagement of the public in holding the government to account, which departments should use for measuring engagement with their data releases and reporting to Parliament.

Parish CouncilsWorthy’s 2017 research on parish councils showed that requests for information labelled as FOI requests were significantly more likely to receive a response than requests that did not mention FOI [REF5]. The head of the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information described the Parish Council project as an ‘elegant concept’ with ‘valuable results’, while Toby Mendel, head of civil rights campaign group Article 19, called it ‘immensely valuable’. Activists from Italy and Canada praised the results and Paul Gibbons – one of the foremost public commentators on FOI practice - commended Worthy’s work in one assessment as ‘helpful...in understanding the peculiar challenges that FOI presents within the lowest tier of government, [providing] important lessons about FOI and government in general’ (7). ‘The study has now been replicated in the Netherlands and Slovakia, with similar results. Worthy was a co-author of the Dutch study. One by-product of the UK study was that a number of parishes responded by publishing organisation charts, either online or on local noticeboards, and reviewing how open they are in their public meetings (8).