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,
the Political and Constitutional Reform
Composition
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
technical matters; others such as the Joint
Lords Select Committees
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,
Economic Affairs, the Constitution,
Inquiries
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
and they will contact various interested
Joint Committees
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
than in hard copy, but all of it should be
Meetings 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

House of Commons Information Office

020 7219 4272
hcinfo@parliament.uk
House of Commons Information Office,
House of Commons, Westminster,
London SW1A 0AA

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August 2011