House of Commons

• Mr. Michel Bédard is a bilingual legal counsel who has trained and practised in both Canadian common law and civil law.
• He first held the post of Parliamentary Counsel within the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel (OLCPC) of the Senate of Canada in 2014, providing legal and legislative advice and services to the Senate, committees, senators and the Senate Administration.
• In 2018, he moved to the post of Assistant Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel within the same organization.
• In 2019, Mr. Bédard started a new role in the House of Commons OLCPC Legal Services as Deputy Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, and remained in that role until he was chosen to take on the post of Interim Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel in June, 2022.

• Save for a last-minute spending deal in Congress on Oct. 1, 2023, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed and the business of government will grind to a halt.
• By some accounts, it would be the 22nd time since 1976 that the U.S. has had to deal with this political paralysis.
• But it doesn’t have to be like this – and in most countries it isn’t.
• Other Western democracies experience polarization and political turmoil, too, yet do not experience this problem.

1. Legislative power

• In the U.K., only the executive branch – the party or coalition in power – has the authority to propose spending plans.
• Parliament, which consists of members from all political parties, maintains an oversight and approval role, but it has very limited power over the budgetary timeline or to amend spending plans.
• Yet, the Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse – that is, the power to tax and spend.
• That gave Congress more power but also offered it more opportunities to bicker and derail the budgetary process.

2. Thresholds to pass a budget

• Passing the U.S. budget is inherently more complicated, as it requires the support of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
• In Parliament, however, the two houses – the elected House of Commons and unelected House of Lords – are not equally involved.
• Additionally, approving the budget in Westminster requires only an absolute majority of votes in the House of Commons.
• While a simple majority suffices in the House of Representatives, the Senate still has a 60-vote requirement to close debates before proceeding with a majority vote to pass a bill.

3. Political stakes

• U.S. and U.K. politicians do not face the same high stakes over budget approval.
• Members of Congress may eventually pay a political price for how they vote on the budget, but there is no immediate threat to their jobs.
• U.K. governments can actually fall – be forced to resign or call for new elections – if they lose formal votes of confidence.
• Since confidence is also implied in other major votes, such as over the annual budget proposals, this raises the stakes for members of Parliament.

4. Distinctive appropriation rules

• Finally, rules about appropriation also set the U.S. apart.
• For many decades, federal agencies could still operate despite funding bills not being passed.
• But it is not a problem that the U.K. experiences because of its distinct rules on appropriation.
• So-called “votes on account” allow the U.K. government “to obtain an advance on the money they need for the next financial year.”

• A hasty autumn budget included additional revenue funds for schools, coming as a relief to many school leaders.
• Twelve months later the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is under pressure to dig deep into his coffers again.
• Usually, discussions of school funding focus on revenue funding, which is related to pupil numbers and pays for salaries and other running costs.

Knowledge gaps

• The fact that schools are in disrepair is not news – it has been the case for many years.
• But it has not been addressed for two fundamental reasons: lack of data and lack of funding.
• But its findings do little to convey the detailed knowledge that would be needed to plan a strategic, school-by-school refurbishment and rebuilding programme.
• The government says that recent cases of crumbling concrete led to a “loss of confidence”, resulting in hurried orders to vacate affected buildings.

Lack of funding

• The incoming coalition government, however, felt that money was not being targeted appropriately, and that much was being lost in bureaucracy.
• Thirteen of the schools with Raac were approved for rebuilding under Building Schools for the Future, but had their funding withdrawn when the scheme was scrapped.
• The coalition government announced the Priority School Building Programme in 2011 to address the most urgent repair and rebuild needs, but it has seen funding fall to well below the amount needed for the job.
• A chronic shortfall of both capital funding and system knowledge cannot be allowed to put the education – and lives – of children at risk.

• Record numbers of people are living in temporary accommodation in England, according to the UK government’s latest reported figures.
• Statistics on statutory homelessness show that in March 2023, 104,510 households – including over 131,000 children – were living in hotels, hostels, B&Bs and the like.
• There is an insufficient supply of available and affordable housing in the UK, with more than 1.2 million households on social housing waiting lists in England alone.

The English housing lottery

• In May 2023, prospective tenants interviewed by the Evening Standard testified to the extent to which demand has outstripped supply in London.
• They described how looking for a place to rent – and facing discrimination in the process – was affecting their mental health.
• The local housing allowance – the rate used to calculate housing benefit available to people – has been frozen since 2020.
• This will compound the housing issues facing those living in rural areas – tourism and the second home boom is affecting rural and coastal property markets, making housing even more unaffordable for local people and driving hidden homelessness – homelessness not accounted for in official statistics.

Housing precarity among young people

• Where there is a lack of affordable housing and a lack of rental housing, there will be more homelessness.
• Data collated by charities, including Homeless Link and the New Horizon Youth Centre, in 2022 showed that 129,000 young people had sought help with housing from their local authority.
• These young people often stay with friends for short periods or live in precarious conditions.
• At national level, however, the single most vital ingredient is the political will to actually deliver properly affordable housing.