Brief Guide

Select Committees

A select committee is a cross-party group of MPs or Lords given a specific remit to investigate and report back to the House that set it up. Select committees gather evidence from ministers and officials, the public and organisations outside Parliament. Their reports are published and the Government must respond to their findings. Select committees are one of the key ways in which Parliament makes sure the Government has to explain or justify what it is doing or how it is spending taxpayers’ money. Select Committees

In the House of Commons select committees The allocation of chairs to different parties have been used for many centuries for many is also made to reflect the relative party different purposes. They are particularly strengths in the House as a whole. Chairs of useful when the House wants to investigate most select committees receive an additional something and find out the facts about it salary for their work. rather than simply debate it. The House delegates this task to a small group of In 2010 the House decided that chairs of Members who can gather information and most select committees should be elected by produce detailed reports. In the Commons a secret ballot of all MPs rather than chosen most select committees are appointed after by each committee. Once the allocation of a general election for the whole period up the chair of each committee to a particular to the calling of the next general election. party has been agreed, MPs of the specified Occasionally others (“ad hoc” or temporary party can be nominated to stand for election committees) are set up for a specific purpose as chair of a committee. Departmental and are asked to report back by a certain committee (see below) chairs are elected by date, ceasing to exist once they have all MPs as are those of the Environmental reported. Audit Committee, the Public Administration Committee, the Public Accounts Committee, Composition the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, the Backbench Business Most select committees in the House of Committee and the Procedure Committee. Commons have around a dozen members, The elections take place about a month after though some committees have more and a general election. some fewer. Ministers, opposition front- bench spokesmen and party whips do not In 2010, the House also instructed the normally serve on most select committees. individual political parties that they should The membership of committees in the arrange for their members of select Commons reflects the party balance in the committees to be elected within each party House as a whole, meaning that a majority in a transparent and democratic way. Each of each committee will be MPs from the party group can decide on its own method governing party or parties. At the moment, of election. The exception is the Backbench for a typical 11-member committee the Business Committee, of which all the composition might be five Conservatives and members are elected by secret ballot of all one Liberal Democrat, and five Labour or MPs. four Labour and one from another opposition party. Commons Select Committees Chairs of select committees have few formal In the House of Commons the main group powers and can only vote in the event of of select committees comprises those which a tie but they play a key role in leading the are tasked with scrutinising the work of committee’s work and setting the agenda. government departments. There is one committee “marking” each government department; at the moment there are 19, though if the Prime Minister changes the organisation of government departments the House will respond by changing the organisation of the departmental committees to match. The remit of these ‘departmental’ committees is to investigate three main aspects of each department: spending, policy and administration. They may also investigate other public bodies associated with their department.

Some select committees have a role that public bodies). The reports are printed, and crosses departmental boundaries such as published on the Parliament website. The the Public Accounts Committee which Government is expected to respond to a has a special remit to examine the use report, particularly to any of a committee’s of taxpayers’ money across the whole of recommendations, within 60 days. government; or the Environmental Audit Committee which assesses the environmental There are other types of select committee. impact of government policies; or the Public The Commons Liaison Committee is made Administration Select Committee, which up of the chairs of all the select committees looks at the work of the civil service and of the House. It considers and occasionally monitors the work of the Parliamentary issues reports on matters affecting select Ombudsman. These committees may committees. The Prime Minister appears scrutinise the actions of any or all of the before the Liaison Committee two or three government departments. times a year to answer questions.

The departmental and cross-cutting Other Commons select committees are committees decide upon their own subjects appointed to report on internal or ‘domestic’ of inquiry and gather written and oral matters, such as the procedures of the House evidence. They will sometimes undertake or the administration of the House itself. fact-finding trips to different parts of the The Standards and Privileges Committee country and meet with local groups, or travel investigates and reports on allegations about abroad to make international comparisons. the conduct of individual MPs. The new When they have concluded an inquiry they Backbench Business Committee decides on will agree a report. As well as analysing the matters which will be debated by the the evidence and drawing conclusions, House at the instigation of backbenchers these reports generally include a number rather than the Government or official of recommendations for action directed at opposition. the Government (and occasionally at other Select committees may sometimes be but they are made up of Members from appointed on an ad hoc basis to examine, both Houses who meet and work as one take evidence and report on some other committee. They appoint a single chairman matter such as reform of the House itself. who can be an MP or a Lord. Some permanent joint committees deal with quite Lords Select Committees technical matters; others such as the Joint Committee on Human Rights have a high Lords select committees do not shadow the political profile. Ad hoc joint committees work of government departments but are are appointed from time to time to consider more thematic in their remits. They can take draft bills published by the Government or advantage of the expertise of their Members. occasionally other matters of mutual interest Many Members of the House of Lords have such as House of Lords reform. been appointed to the Upper House because they have years of experience or have A full list of current Parliamentary select excelled in a particular field. committees is given on the back of this Brief Guide. There are five major Lords select committees, specialising in Science and Technology, Inquiries Economic Affairs, the Constitution, Communications and the European Union Select committees normally announce that and each may appoint its own specialist they intend to conduct an inquiry into a subcommittees. Ad hoc committees are particular matter in advance by publishing regularly set up to investigate other particular terms of reference. They will, at this stage, matters decided on by the House. invite the public to submit any relevant evidence that will help them in their inquiry Joint Committees and they will contact various interested groups and bodies directly to submit written Joint Committees operate in the same way evidence. They will usually seek written as Commons and Lords select committees submissions from the relevant government Select Committees

department(s). Having considered the written going back to 1st July 2009. Transcripts of evidence, committees will generally then proceedings are available to read on the invite specific groups or individuals, including individual committee’s pages on Parliament’s ministers and civil servants, to appear before website soon after each session. The public them to be questioned in public. can also visit Parliament to watch select committee meetings in person without prior They have powers to compel people (but not booking, free of charge. Select committees Members of either House) or organisations are not, however, allowed to admit the public (but not the Government) to give evidence, to any part of their proceedings other than but these are rarely invoked: the information the examination of witnesses. asked for is usually provided voluntarily. Reports Guidance for any member of the public who wishes to give evidence to a select Some committees publish reports every committee can be accessed on Parliament’s week, some only occasionally. The typical website at: www.parliament.uk/ departmental select committee will publish get-involved/have-your-say/take-part-in- a dozen or so reports a year, but the Public committee-inquiries/witness. Details of Accounts Committee will publish nearer all current inquiries being undertaken to four dozen reports in a year. All select by select committees can be found on committee reports are published by the the committee pages of Parliament’s Stationery Office and are also available website or can be obtained by contacting via the individual committee webpages the Information Offices of both Houses. on Parliament’s website. Reports normally Suggestions of subjects for select committee contain the full transcripts of oral evidence inquiries can be made in writing to the clerk taken by the committee and some or all of of the committee: contact details can be the written evidence submitted during the found in the same places. course of the inquiry. Increasingly, the written evidence is only published on the web rather Meetings than in hard copy, but all of it should be found via the individual committee webpages When select committees meet to take on Parliament’s website. evidence from a witness the sessions are nearly always held in public and all are either Committee staff are always willing to televised or webcast. The Parliament website help with enquiries about a committee’s carries live and archived coverage of all UK work. The best place to start finding out Parliament proceedings taking place in public, more information is through the particular including debates and committee meetings committee’s webpages which can be found of both Houses (see www.parliamentlive. via www.parliament.uk/business/ tv/Main/Home.aspx). The material is committees/committees-a-z. then available from an on-demand archive List of Current Parliamentary Select Committees:

Commons Committees Lords Committees Administration; Backbench Administration and Works; Business; Business, Innovation Communications; Constitution; and Skills; Communities and Local Delegated Powers and Regulatory Government; Culture, Media Reform; Economic Affairs; and Sport; Defence; Education; European Union; House; Hybrid Energy and Climate Change; Instruments; Information; Liaison; Environment, Food and Rural Merits of Statutory Instruments; Affairs; Environmental Audit; Privileges and Conduct; European Scrutiny; Finance and Procedure; Refreshment; Science Services; Foreign Affairs; Health; and Technology; Selection Home Affairs; International Development; Justice; Liaison; Joint Committees Northern Ireland Affairs; Political Consolidation Bills; Human and Constitutional Reform; Rights; National Security Strategy; Procedure; Public Accounts; Statutory Instruments Public Administration; Regulatory Reform; Science and Technology; Scottish Affairs; Standards and Privileges; Transport; Treasury; Welsh Affairs; Work and Pensions

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