<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/4c99f9f7-8ffa-40f6-89b9-0e00817aad6e/804F870B-4BA4-4A9D-88B7-6D01C94C6198/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece" style="font-size: 11px;">www.timesonline.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece"><H1 class="heading">MPs failing to attend crucial Commons committees</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece"><P> At least 60 of the 220 members on the most influential Commons committees examining public services and government spending missed more than half their meetings last year, according to an analysis of figures released this week by Parliament. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece"><P> Yet overall attendance at several key select committees covering education, foreign affairs and culture have dropped 10 per cent in five years. The attendance rate for the main committees is 64 per cent, down from 70 per cent in 2002-03. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece">Jim Dowd, a Labour MP who attended 18 out of the 37 meetings of the Health Select Committee, suggested that he had the balance “about right”</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece">Emily Thornberry, a Labour backbencher who attended 13 of the 36 meetings of the Communities and Local Government Committee, said that she principally attended those meetings on housing — a minority of its workload</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6055139.ece">Dawn Butler, another Labour MP who was promoted from the back benches last October, attended only 15 of the 64 meetings</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/804F870B-4BA4-4A9D-88B7-6D01C94C6198/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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