The preceding chapters have included discussion of the wide range of views expressed by MPs on the role of government in welfare and on specific aspects of welfare policy (Chapter Four), and the extent to which MPs are influenced by public experiences of state welfare provision (Chapter Five). Some of these views, even among Labour MPs, are clearly at some variance with government policy. However, the extent to which MPs are able to communicate to the government their own concerns and those of the individuals and groups they represent is not clear. As discussed in Chapter Three, recent years have seen renewed claims that the power of parliament is in decline, particularly in relation to the executive, and that backbench MPs have little opportunity to influence policy. At the same time, a wealth of literature has focused on the one most obvious means by which MPs may seek to influence the government, by voting against legislation in the division lobbies. As discussed in Chapter Three, the Blair governments have certainly experienced some difficulties in seeking to pass parts of their welfare legislation due to rebellions by Labour MPs. However, overt rebellion in votes in the House of Commons (as discussed in Chapter Three), or the House of Lords (as discussed in Chapter Six), is only one means of seeking to influence the government, and arguably is often only resorted to when other attempts to persuade the government have failed.

It is also important to recognise that there are many other factors influencing government policy, including pressures from the party more generally (and indeed the opposition parties), public opinion, the media, pressure groups, the civil service, public expenditure limits and other policy and economic pressures. Parliament, and indeed the House of Commons, is therefore only one among many potential influences, although its place in the policy arena does provide it with certain advantages (and also limitations). When interviewed for this research MPs from all parties identified a number of means of influencing welfare policy (Table 7.1). This chapter therefore examines the variety of methods used by MPs in their efforts to scrutinise and influence government policy, focusing on the wide range of procedures and practices within parliament that are available for and used by MPs and peers (see also Chapter Six), and the extent to which MPs consider these to be effective in enabling them to provide effective oversight of, and influence over, welfare policy, including reflecting both their views and the views of those who they represent.