Select committees hold government ministers and departments accountable for their policies and decisions. Their core tasks are to scrutinize legislation, examine public expenditure, and hold the government accountable. Select committees conduct inquiries where they gather evidence, write reports, and the government responds. Members of Parliament and Lords sit on select committees along with clerks and other staff. The committees encourage public participation by submitting written evidence, giving oral testimony, and engaging with the committee in other ways. Select committees have existed since 1668 and help Parliament oversee the work of the government.

1. Select Committees:
How they work and how to get involved

2. Committees
Departmental
Temporary
Internal
Other
scrutiny
Joint

3. Scrutiny: What do Select
Committees do?

4. Core tasks – overall aim
To hold 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

5. Parliament
(Westminster)
• Commons, Lords and
Monarch
• holds Government to
account
• passes laws
Government
(Whitehall)
• some MPs and some
Lords, chosen by the
Prime Minister
• runs Government
departments and
public services

6. Vexing civil servants since 1668
“At the office all the morning, where comes a damned summons to attend the
Committee of Miscarriages to-day, which makes me mad, that I should by my
place become the hackney of this Office, in perpetual trouble and vexation,
that need it least.” ~ Sam. Pepys

7. Revised core tasks
Strategy
Support
for the
House
Bills
Draft
bills
Policy
Expenditure
and
performance
Post-legislative
scrutiny
Appointments
Public
engagement
European
scrutiny

8. 5. Government reply
3. Report preparation
1. Inquiry initiation
2. Evidence gathering
The inquiry process
4. Report publication
The inquiry process

9. Select Committees in action!Select Committees: Members and
staff
Clerk
Specialist
2-3 Administrative staff Chair
Members
Witnesses

10. Committees need you!
1. Submit written evidence
• Terms of reference will be
issued – ensure evidence
addresses them
• Check deadline dates
• Use clear language – write for
an intelligent non-expert
• Suggest solutions as well as
addressing problems
• Contact committee Clerk to
discuss your submission, and for
advice

11. 2. Give oral evidence
• Many hearings are fact-finding
sessions.. Get your view on the
record
• Ask any questions before the
session
• Avoid jargon and too many
acronyms
• Arrive early!
Committees need you!

13. 3. Respond to broader consultations, attend seminars,
town hall meetings…

14. Many other ways…
1. Contact with staff (informal)
2. Become a Specialist Adviser (formal)
3. Keep up to date with committee activity: twitter, press
notices, parliament.uk
4. Work placement?

15. Informal engagement is important

16. Further information contacts
– Website:
• www.parliament.uk; www.parliamrnt.uk/ecc
– Twitter:
• @UKParliament, @CommonsECC
– Or get in touch:
• ferratm@parliament.uk; ecc@parliament.uk