Select Committees

House of Commons Select Committees

In the House of Commons, there are four types of Select Committee: Departmental, Cross-Cutting, Domestic, and Legislative. Select Committees contain at least 12 MPs, and the number of MPs from each party on each Committee reflects the composition of MPs in Parliament itself.

House of Lords Select Committees

The four types of committees within the House of Lords are Investigative Committees, Ad-Hoc Committees, Legislative Committees, and Domestic Committees.

Joint Select Committees

Joint Select Committees include MPs from both the House of Commons and the Lords. They mainly focus on policy issues such as international law and human rights.

A Commons Select Committee in session at Portcullis House, WikiMediaCommons

List of Select Committees

As mentioned above, select committees are formed for several different purposes, and these are categorised as follows:

Joint Select Committees

Joint Committees address serious legislative issues through bodies such as the Intelligence and Security Committee and the National Security Strategy Committee, as well as administrative matters such as the Consolidation Bills Committee.

Select Committees UK

Parliamentary Select Committees offer a cross-party coalition of backbench MPs the opportunity to scrutinise government. The UK electoral system uses the pluralistic, first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system, a model which tends to result in a one-party government, in which a Government is formed by the party that commands a majority in Parliament. Coalition governments are relatively rare and therefore, Select Committees are all the more important in holding one-party governments to account.

Once the number of Chairs has been allocated to each party, the party whips negotiate which parties will occupy the Chair on each Select Committee. Following this negotiation, backbench MPs can nominate themselves. To be successful, a candidate must receive the backing of 15 MPs within their party. Once there is at least one candidate for every Chair, an election is carried out amongst all MPs using the Alternative Vote system.

After a Chair has been appointed to each Select Committee, the election of the backbench MPs who will sit on them begins. Again, the make-up of each Committee is generally proportionate to the make-up of Parliament. The party in government can generally expect to be the most well represented. Once each backbench MP has stood for a place on a Select Committee, votes are conducted internally within each party.

Select Committee Functions

Select Committees' cross-party and proportionately representative make-up mean they carry out several functions, which are essential to democracy.

Scrutinising Government

Perhaps the most important function carried out by Select Committees is their work to scrutinise the legislation and activities of government. The most illustrative example of a Select Committee which holds the government to account is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). A cross-cutting Committee, the PAC holds government expenditure to account, by conducting audits on all major programmes. Beyond these audits, the PAC holds inquiries in which its members scrutinise Departmental Ministers.

What makes PAC unique is that its Chair must be a member of the Parliamentary opposition. From 2010 - 2015, Labour MP Margaret Hodge used her platform as Chair of the PAC to adopt a combative approach against the government's economic policies. Hodge famously branded executives from Google as "evil" during an inquiry in 2013. Today, the PAC produces reports on major economic projects, such as the construction of HS2.

Former Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, addressing the government regarding the future of the Committee during her time in the position, 2011, WikiMediaCommons

Select Committee Functions: Adding Expertise

Parliamentary Select Committees add experience to the policy process, by gaining insights from external professionals. Select Committees also produce public invitations before their inquiries, which they send to relevant think tanks, lobby groups, academics, or individuals who may have a stake or interest in their investigation.

In the Lords, Select Committees utilise the experience of the Lords, many of whom are appointed because of their achievements in fields such as business and education. In the Lords, the most common Select Committees are the permanent Investigative Committees, which investigate thematic issues such as the Economic Affairs of the country.

Select Committee Functions: Representation

Another function of Parliamentary Select Committees is to promote representation within the pluralistic system of Westminster. Certain parties within Westminster, like the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), represent the interests of the nations within the UK to which power is devolved from Westminster. Therefore, these parties are given special access to Select Committees which make policy recommendations for their nations. The SNP, for example, secured the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee following the 2019 general election.

Pros and Cons of Select Committees

Through their election processes and functions, Select Committees conduct processes which a fundamental to British democracy. There is no such thing as a perfect democracy, however, and Select Committees can also represent some major shortfalls in the British political system.

Bolstering democracy

• Pro

Select Committees can be seen as providing a remedy to the pluralistic, one-party system of UK politics. Through the proportional system of representation which is used to allocate membership and Chair positions, Select Committees bring smaller parties into the legislative process. Furthermore, by only allowing backbench MPs to participate, they involve representatives from outside the government or shadow cabinet.

• Con

Despite the introduction of a Commons-wide AV election for Committee Chairs in 2010, many Committee Chairs still run unopposed. In the 2020 elections, 13 Chairs ran for election unopposed. This suggests that Select Committees are still subject to the same internal party politics as other processes.

Holding Governments to account

• Pro

Select Committees allow Backbench MPs to scrutinise the government and exercise influence. As well as being able to liaise with experts in different fields, Select Committees can request to view restricted documents which are produced during the legislative process. Lastly, with their ability to request appearances from Cabinet Ministers and senior political figures, Select Committee inquiries can have a damaging impact on a politician's public image. This was illustrated in 2022 when Boris Johnson was questioned about his intention to resign during an appearance at the Liaison Committee.

• Con

Ultimately, Select Committees' authority is limited by a lack of enforcement power. They have the authority to scrutinise government departments, policy, and legislation, but no corresponding power with which to make changes. Furthermore, although they can technically issue a formal summons for Ministers to appear before them, these are not binding and therefore they are reliant on the goodwill of MPs. In many ways, the lack of real authority to enforce recommendations leaves Select Committees with the image of being fairly 'toothless'.

A House of Lords Select Committee in session, circa 2013, WikiMediaCommons