- This HEPI blog was kindly authored by Dr Edward Hicks, who has been on a placement with HEPI during the General Election campaign. He usually works for the House of Commons, and has worked for three select committees and in the House of Commons Library.
What are select committees?
With a new Parliament will come new select committees to scrutinise the Government. In the House of Commons, these committees are usually composed of 11 MPs. Most Commons committees are headed by a Chair elected in a secret ballot by all MPs. Committees are overtly cross-party in their approach, reflected physically in their horseshoe layout as opposed to the tradition of serried ranks facing each other in the House of Commons. These committees will mostly shadow the government departments, so if there are changes to the organisation of Government departments after the election, the committees scrutinising them will change their names and remit.
In the House of Lords, the committees are not organised by department, but across broader themes such as public services, the constitution and economic affairs. Some Lords committees are elected for a single session (usually approximately a year) and others (e.g. the Public Services Committee) for the whole Parliament.
Select committees in the Commons and Lords mainly work through inquiries:
- The most common would be an inquiry into a specific subject they have agreed to investigate.
- “Pre-legislative scrutiny”, where the Committee closely examines a draft bill before it is introduced,
- “Post-legislative scrutiny”, an examination of existing legislation (e.g. the Lords Industry and Regulators Committee’s inquiry into the Office for Students was based on post-legislative scrutiny).
The process will be similar in each of these three types of inquiry. The Committee will publish terms of reference for the inquiry, inviting written submissions from organisations and the public. This will often be followed by oral evidence, where usually one to four individuals will be questioned by MPs. This can be over a video link, but normally takes place in person, in the Houses of Parliament. The Committee is likely to then publish a report, with conclusions and recommendations mainly aimed at the UK Government, and on occasion other stakeholders. The UK Government will usually publish a response to the committee’s report within two months of the report being published.
Unlike in the devolved legislatures, Commons and Lords committees are not generally involved in the formal, line-by-line scrutiny of legislation.
Committees also hold one-off oral evidence sessions, sometimes on topical subjects, or a scrutiny session with ministers and other high-profile figures. For example, the Welsh Affairs Committee has questioned the First Minister of Wales approximately once a year. Committees also hold “pre-appointment hearings”, where they question prospective candidates for a public position and recommend whether they should be appointed. This does not normally extend to having a veto over the appointment – for example, in February 2012 the Education Committee recommended against appointing Les Ebdon as Director of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), but the UK Government nevertheless went ahead with appointing him.
Parliamentary Committees and Higher Education
It would be a mistake to think scrutiny by Commons Committees of higher education is restricted solely to the Education Committee. In the 2019-24 Parliament, a myriad of inquiries were held by different committees touching on higher education:
- The first committee to take evidence following the publication in May 2024 of the Migration Advisory Committee’s report into graduate visas, was the Home Affairs Committee. It had previously inquired into spiking following concerns raised by students.
- The Science, Innovation and Technology committee was understandably interested in research.
- The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee into land-based education including hearing from Harper Adams University, with its role in agricultural education.
- The Scottish Affairs Committee, examining policy areas in Scotland still controlled by the UK Government such as research and development spending through UKRI, held inquiries into Universities in Scotland and Science in Scotland.
- The Welsh Affairs Committee held an inquiry into Universities and R&D, particularly looking at the replacement of EU Structural Funds with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; and conducted a wider inquiry into Population Change in Wales which inevitably touched on the arrival, departure and return of graduates to and from Wales.
- The Foreign Affairs Committee held a one-off session on UK universities’ engagement with autocracies, whilst its Sub-Committee on British Overseas Territories (the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Bermuda etc) held an inquiry into the experience of people living in those territories seeking to access UK higher education.
- The Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry into the NHS workforce included considering the length and nature of medical degrees,
- The Public Accounts Committee, which works with the National Audit Office, undertake an investigation into student loans issued to those studying at franchised HE providers.
- The Women and Equalities Committee held an inquiry into attitudes towards women and girls in educational settings.
The same broad view should be taken of House of Lords Committees. There are longer-term committees, such as Public Services, Economic Affairs, Science and Technology, and the Industry and Regulators Committee which inquired into the Office for Students. The Lords also have temporary committees established for a single session of Parliament, usually a year in length – recent inquiries have included those looking at 11-16 Education, and into seaside towns.
Advice on engaging with committees
What advice can be offered to readers wishing to engage with committees?
First, it is important to note that all the inquiries previously conducted by the committees in the 2019-24 Parliament have ended with the election, such as the Education Committee’s recently launched inquiries into international students in English universities, and boys’ attainment and engagement in education. New committees may choose to resume them, or start out in a totally different direction. Those who have submitted written evidence would need to re-submit.
Secondly, Committee interactions range more widely than just written evidence and public oral evidence sessions. Committees also undertake visits and hold public engagement events, to hear from those directly affected. This can often be a useful way to gather evidence first-hand and shape the perspectives of committee members on the topic.
Thirdly, whilst engagement with the Chair of the Committee is one way of drawing attention to an issue, it is important not to forget the other Committee members, whose own ideas for inquiries may well be taken up were it to garner sufficient support.
Fourthly, Committee staff who manage the committee inquiries may be specialists, with experience or expertise; but equally they may be approaching the subject for the first time. Therefore, those with expertise might like to offer a background briefing. The committee’s contact details are available via the Parliament website.
Fifthly, when submitting written evidence or giving oral evidence bear in mind that committee evidence needs to be original – you cannot just submit a previously published piece. The most effective submissions do focus on the inquiry’s terms of reference (not necessarily all of them), drawing on an academic’s research but where appropriate reaching outside of a specialist project.. In addition, bear in mind that fundamentally committee reports are seeking to come up with conclusions and recommendations for change.
The House of Commons Library and its research partners
The UK Parliament has other institutions that engage with higher education. Foremost are the Knowledge Exchange Unit, which seeks to work with researchers to support the exchange of information and expertise. Its opportunities range from being an initial point of contact to facilitating “academic fellowships” in Parliament, where academics come and conduct research projects in Parliament.
The other Parliamentary institutions readers may be familiar with is the House of Commons Library. The Library consists of specialists, each with a dedicated policy area or areas which they cover. Many of its specialists have been in post for many years, building up considerable knowledge and experience, and have published books and academic articles on their specialism. Formally the Library is there to serve MPs and their staff. A tricky query from a constituent will often result in an email or phone call to the specialist staff member in the Library, asking for information. That exchange of information is confidential. But much of the Library’s contents is publicly available. Their briefing papers and “Insight” blog pieces, aim to provide an impartial overview of the topic, and are often the go-to piece for politicians, their staff, and other policy influencers. The House of Lords Library, which fulfils similar functions for members of the House of Lords.
The devolved institutions: Senedd Research, SPICe (Scottish Parliament Information Centre) and Northern Ireland Assembly’s Research and Information Service (RaISe) include staff who work across both the library and committees, producing briefings for their committees alongside publishing papers. Devolved committees also differ in being much small in numbers, often cutting across different devolved administrations departments, and in that they directly scrutinise legislation and the draft budget.