Member Article

Should we be tracking how much time MPs actually spend in parliament?

I’ve got a confession to make. Try as I might to avoid the latest social media fads and phases, there’s something happening right now that I’m inadvertently becoming hooked to.

Honestly, I’m ashamed to reveal it but I’ve got to admit that I’m succumbing to this whole Moggmania business.

For those of you unaware, Moggmania is the relatively recent term coined to back Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg as a frontrunner to become Prime Minister.

Before I go any further, I must add that I’m not a supporter of the Mogg (or in fact his party) although his eccentricity and unlikely rise as a prominent social media meme at present has led me to research the fellow.

To further contextualise, Rees-Mogg is an old Etonian and ardent Brexiteer. Again, two more positions which I couldn’t be further away from! Yet the man does fascinate me and I think I’ve been drawn into Moggmentum for reasons other than the norm.

Watching an old Commons YouTube clip this week, something really struck me.

As pretty much everyone reading this will know, ever since the majority voted to leave the European Union it seems the notion of Brexit and how to achieve it is inescapable. There’s certainly not a working day that goes by without it cropping up in my conversations.

In this particular clip, Rees-Mogg blasts fellow peers for not attending EU-centric Commons debates before the Brexit decision. Seemingly many issues cropping up had been discussed at length in prior meetings although very few attended before the subject became popularised. To be fair, I can understand Mogg’s frustrations here.

When I think about it, there’s actually a lot I disagree with it when it comes to parliamentary procedure. I often have to turn PMQs off because of the background rabble and general lack of respect in the House. I remember being inspired by Mhairi Black’s maiden speech a couple of years ago now and feeling crestfallen that there weren’t more MPs there to listen to her.

For a lot of young people especially, I believe the customs and makeup of parliament contribute to many folk feeling disenfranchised from politics. Yet I wonder if this would change if we had more belief in our politicians?

What if, for example, we tracked how much time MPs actually spend in parliament? In fact, this is something being discussed from top down as well as bottom up right now.

Tommy Sheppard, MP for Edinburgh East and SNP spokesman in the House of Commons, recently raised the point that all MPs and peers should be issued with identification cards. This would in turn allow the public to see exactly how much time their peer or MP does spend in the House.

The SNP suggestion follows reports of peers claiming their £300 a day allowance for a few minutes attendance. Whilst MPs, peers and staff must presently enter Parliament through a security gate with a pass and numeric code, there is no such restrictions upon leaving so no records are available of exactly whom is in Parliament at any one time and how long they have spent there.

Changing such a paradigm is indeed a bold suggestion. Yet I’m curious to explore the pragmatics of how a seemingly progressive idea could be realised.

If so, then how?

As many of our readers will know, I’m a sucker for any and all tech innovations. I believe that what we’re talking about here could only effectively be achieved via a digital solution.

For instance, here in Newcastle we have a company, ievo Ltd, which manufactures biometric recognition systems. Could a digital fingerprint business like this produce alternative technology to not only track attendance data but to significantly raise levels of personal security for all MPs, peers, staff and visitors to parliament?

Shaun Oakes, Managing Director of ievo Ltd, tell us: “Fingerprint access control can ensure only those that are authorised to enter Parliament can do so.

“In addition by ensuring each entrance and exit point has a fingerprint or biometric reader, integrated time and attendance software can allow accurate records of who is in the building at any one time.”

So, through integrating biometric access control with time & attendance software, data can be used to tell exactly who spent how long there and even in what areas of the building, which would ultimately fulfil the requirement set out by Mr Sheppard.

Mr Oakes continues: “This level of time and attendance monitoring is well used in industries that require accurate records of attendance for payroll and industries with high reliance on health and safety and fire protocols.”

“Our products are already approved by the CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure) and are included in their prestigious and trusted Catalogue of Security Equipment which permits use in protecting a wide variety of Government facilities.

“Now whether the MP’s and peers want to have such accountability is a political decision up to themselves, but we’re ready if the call comes!”

So there you have it. Whilst we currently don’t track how much time MPs spend in parliament, solutions exist to be able to change that.

I wonder what the Moggster would make of all this…

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