House of Commons Select Committees 2015
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House of Commons Select Committees 2015
- 1. Edward Faulkner, Committee Specialist Scottish Affairs Committee, House of Commons July 2015 Select Committees in the House of Commons
- 2. House of Commons: main roles • Debating and passing laws • Enabling the Government to raise taxes • Examining and challenging the work of the government – Written and oral questions to Ministers – Debates – Committees • Select Committees • Legislative Committees • Other Committees
- 3. Commons Select Committees • There is a Commons Select Committee for each government department – Appointed “to examine the expenditure, administration and policy” of the relevant Department • Some Select Committees look at policy or spending across several departments (eg. Public Accounts and European Scrutiny) • Other Commons Committees are involved in issues such as administration of the House and allegations about the conduct of individual MPs
- 4. Core tasks Committees have the overall aim of holding Ministers and Departments to account for their policy and decision- making and to support the House in its control of the supply of public money and scrutiny of legislation. The Liaison Committee sets out specific tasks relating to: • Strategy, policy, expenditure and performance, draft bills, bills and delegated legislation, post-legislative scrutiny, European scrutiny, appointments, support for the House and public engagement.
- 5. Select Committee Members Made up of Backbench MPs • Normally 11 Members • A Chair: elected by secret ballot of the whole House • Other Members: nominated by their party after internal elections
- 6. Select Committee Secretariat • A Clerk • Other advisers (Committee Specialists, Legal Specialists, Economists, etc) • Committee Assistants • Media Officer
- 7. Committee powers • To send for persons and papers • Reporting opinions to the House Other means of influence • Debates in the House (Estimate Day debates and Backbench Business Committee debates) • Writing to Ministers • Media coverage
- 8. Select Committee activity Parliamentary inquiries: • Committee decides on subject of inquiry • Calls for evidence • Hears from witnesses (in person and in writing) • Sets out its views in a Report • Government responds As well as formal Committee proceedings, there is an increasing focus on public engagement (websites, social media, informal events).
- 10. Select Committee reports The end product of an inquiry is normally a report. This will: • Set out relevant evidence • Make conclusions • Set out recommendations to Government (and sometimes others) The Government is meant to respond within two months, and other relevant bodies also sometimes respond.
- 11. Relationship with Government Committees tend to take evidence from: • Ministers (sometimes from a variety of departments) • Senior Civil Servants Many others are involved in Select Committee work: • Parliamentary liaison (key contact for all matters) • Drafting written evidence, Government responses, briefing for Ministers
- 12. Government guidance on select committees The Government produces guidance (the “Osmotherly rules”) on giving evidence to Committees and responding to Committee reports. Key points include: • Stating that Civil Servants are responsible to Ministers, and Ministers are responsible to Parliament. • Guidance on provision of information, and when it might not be appropriate to provide information. • Process for responding to Committee reports
- 13. Any questions?
Editor's Notes
- The number and names of Committees often changes at the beginning of a Parliament (eg. PCRC absorbed by PASC/PACAC), and the House can resolve to create new Committees for specific purposes. Examples include the Parliamentary Banking Commission (Joint Committee), and the Governance Committee (Commons). Also the Liaison Committee – made up of Chairs of each Committee. Although Departments will tend to have one Committee they have a close relationship with, other Committee’s might also end up looking at issues covered by other Departments (eg. nationals will often look at a range of policy areas relevant to the three devolved administrations).
- The Liaison Committee looks at the working practices and effectiveness of Committees. Revised the core tasks following a substantial review of Committee’s effectiveness. Increasing attempt to get Committees to focus on core areas of work and working with Government to improve policy/legislation. Have been some criticisms of Committees becoming campaigning platforms and chasing headlines.
- Select Committees are made up of MPs, but members of a committee cannot be either in the Government or Opposition front benches. There are normally 11 members on a committee (though there are exceptions – eg. NIAC has 14 to allow for NI parties, joint committees have more) Following the adoption by the House of recommendations from the Reform of the House of Commons Committee (which was chaired by the former MP, Dr Tony Wright); the majority of Select Committee Chairs are now elected by their fellow MPs. This has been seen to give them more independence from the Government and Opposition than they had in the past. Parties are allocated Chairs for Committees in proportion to their presence in the House (as per Standing Order 122b), and the parties then agree which Committees are allocated to each party. Exceptions – Public Accounts has to be chaired by a member of the opposition, Backbench Business Committee cannot be chaired by a member of a party in government In 2015 – 11 committees were uncontested (including both SNP committees), and there were elections for 15 others. Other members are appointed – again in proportion to the overall make up of the House (territorial committees exceptions to allow for representation of parties prevalent in the nations) One Committee – Standards – has three lay members, who are not elected MPs.
- Select Committees are staffed by officials from the House of Commons – an impartial service which serves all MPs. We are politically impartial, and move from office to office and Committee to Committee. Clerks are responsible for general advice and also managing procedural arrangements. The staff of Select Committee varies depending on the subject matter – some Committees are busier than others, some require specialist knowledge (eg. Treasury, Justice – they often have specialist staff seconded from government departments). Committee Assistants are responsible for arranging meetings and visits. The staff are strictly impartial, and are there to support members of all parties (we are separate from the Civil Service, which works for the Government) Also receive support from other offices (eg. Web and Publications Unit – for websites and producing reports). Committee teams are generally small (especially compared to Government departments)
- Committees have relatively few formal powers – don’t have any power to action their suggestions, is a role of influence. The summoning of witnesses has been used by Committees on a number of occasions – recently was used by the NIAC to summon Tony Blair to talk about his involvement in a scheme the Northern Ireland Office ran after the Good Friday Agreement. Also involved negotiations about the attendance of Civil Servants. Can’t be used on MPs or Lords. Committees can also place witnesses under oath, a power that has been used on a number of occasions, sometimes more controversially than others. Has been questioned the extent to which Committees are able to enforce their powers (often relies on public pressure rather than enforcing a summons). With Government departments, Committees are well placed to exert pressure (in House, publically). Main formal power is to report to the House, pursuing action on this is the crux of the matter. Central to Committees influence is the fact their members are MPs, and they generally have a good reputation. The Government doesn’t ignore Committees lightly. Earlier slide placing Committees in context of broader roles of the House – work of Committees is not meant to be isolated and informs parliamentary debates, scrutiny of legislation, etc.
- Committee decides on subject of inquiry Both a subject and detailed questions to be considered (often a newly announced government policy – such as inquiries into HS2, often in response to current events – such as transport problems in the winter) Calls for evidence This is sent to the Government and a distribution list of interested persons (anyone can sign up to receive these) Hears from witnesses (in person and in writing) Committees will generally hear from experts in the field, representative organisations and the Government, before producing a report. Sets out its views in a Report Sets outs evidence and comes to conclusions, makes recommendations to the Government, other public bodies and (occasionally) private sector groups Government responds The Government is expected to respond to Committee reports within two months – the actual timeliness and helpfulness of responses varies significantly, as does the relationship between Committees and Departments.
- Most public facing part of a Committee’s work are evidence sessions. Hear from all sorts of people and atmosphere varies enormously. Sessions that get press coverage tend to be where there is serious dispute – Ministers being given a dressing down, Margaret Hodge telling Google representative “I think you do evil”. The vast majority are information gathering/airing of issues.
- In terms of evidence – if the Committee wants to talk policy and principle, they will need a minister, but often look at implementation which would mean civil servants might be better placed to answer (passing of the buck not unheard of…) In practice, relationships between individual Committees and the Government/Departments varies enormously. Often characterised in terms of relationships between the Chair and relevant Ministers (Banking Commission under Tyrie had constructive relationship with Osborne, Home Affairs under Vaz arguably less constructive relationship with the Home Secretary). Chairs will often meet informally with relevant Ministers in addition to evidence sessions with full Committee.
- Osmotherly rules named after senior Cabinet Office civil servant E.B.C. Osmotherly, who first drafted them. Have no status within Parliament. These have been around since the 1970s, but were last revised in 2013. Civil Servants responsibility to ministers means that they give evidence to contribute to ministerial accountability, and do not offer personal views or judgments. Government is of the view that Ministers decide who is best to give evidence. In terms of access to information, there are often negotiations about this. Responding to Committee reports – shouldn’t make hasty comments.