select committees

Select Committees: How they work and how to get involved

Committees

Departmental

Temporary

InternalOther

scrutiny

Joint

Scrutiny: What do Select Committees do?

Core tasks – overall aimTo 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

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

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

Revised core tasks

Strategy

Support for theHouse

Bills

Draftbills

Policy

Expenditureand

performance

Post-legislativescrutinyAppointments

Publicengagement

Europeanscrutiny

5. Government reply

3. Report preparation

1. Inquiry initiation

2. Evidence gathering

The inquiry process

4. Report publication

The inquiry process

Select Committees in action!Select Committees: Members and staff

Clerk Specialist2-3 Administrative staff ChairMembers

Witnesses

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

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!

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

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.uk4. Work placement?

Informal engagement is important

Further information contacts– Website:

• www.parliament.uk; www.parliamrnt.uk/ecc

– Twitter: • @UKParliament, @CommonsECC

– Or get in touch:• ferratm@parliament.uk; ecc@parliament.uk