2 The objectives
Liaison Committee objectives
3. The objectives set by the Liaison Committee for
departmentally-related select committees are rooted in the House's
Standing Orders, which require those committees to examine the
expenditure, administration and policy of the Government department
concerned and its associated public bodies. The objectives are:
Objective A: to examine and comment on the policy
of the Department
— proposals
from the UK Government and European Commission in green papers,
white papers, draft guidance etc.;
— areas
of emerging policy, or where existing policy is deficient;
— any
relevant published draft Bill;
— specific
output from the Department expressed in documents or other decisions;
Objective B: to examine the expenditure of the
Department
— the
expenditure plans and out-turn of the Department, its agencies
and principal non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs);
Objective C : to examine the administration of
the Department
— the
Department's Public Service Agreements, the associated targets
and the statistical measurements employed;
— the
work of the Department's executive agencies, NDPBs, regulators
and other associated public bodies;
— major
appointments made by the Department;
— the
implementation of legislation and major policy initiatives;
Objective D: to assist the House in debate and
decision, producing reports which are suitable for debate in the
House and its committees, including Westminster Hall.
4. Table 1 in the Annex to this Report illustrates
the various ways in which the Committee's work since July 2005
has carried forward these objectives. The following paragraphs
provide some detail.
Policy
5. The four most substantial inquiries during the
period covered by this report have each addressed areas where
policy is being formulated. Our inquiry into analogue switch-off
assessed a major policy initiative which will affect almost every
household in the UK but which had, until recently, undergone surprisingly
little evaluation. We commended the Government for its bold decision
in setting a date for switchover rather than waiting for it to
occur naturally, and we highlighted a number of concerns.[2]
This is a long-term project, and detailed policy is still being
developed.
6. Our investigation into the protection of the nation's
built heritage tracked the evolution of policy proposals for reform
of the heritage protection system and will inform a White Paper
to be published in 2007. Our ongoing inquiry into the 2012 Olympic
Games and Paralympic Games monitors another long-term project
in which major developments are announced almost monthly; and
our inquiry into new media and the creative industries has included
an examination of copyright issues for creative works, a subject
considered in depth by Andrew Gowers in a review of the intellectual
property regime commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.[3]
7. The Committee has conducted three brisk inquiries
(consisting of a single morning of oral evidence) into matters
of significant interest to large sections of the public but for
which primary responsibility for policy lies with bodies independent
of Government or statutory regulators. In each case, the Committee
judged that there was a public interest in undertaking a Parliamentary
inquiry and that scope for a more active approach by Government
or by regulators should be explored. Our First Report examined
broadcasting rights for cricket and was prompted by the decision
of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to award broadcasting
rights for live coverage of Test matches involving the England
team exclusively to BSkyB. This act was heavily criticised as
being in breach of a "gentleman's agreement" reached
in 1998 between the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media
and Sport and the then Chairman of the ECB. While we recognised
that this was primarily a matter for the ECB, the Committee criticised
the Department for not announcing publicly its decision that the
so-called "gentleman's agreement" was not binding and
need not constrain the ECB from awarding exclusive rights for
live broadcasts to a pay-TV broadcaster.[4]
8. Our Fourth Report, into women's football, concluded
that the policy of the Football Association (as the sport's governing
body) in setting a maximum age limit for children to take part
in mixed-gender competitive football made it difficult for girls
to continue participating in competitive football beyond primary
school.[5] We noted that
there may be a direct negative consequence for adult participation
in sporting activity, one of the Department's PSA targets. We
also identified ways of making the distribution of public funds
for football facilities and programmes - both through national
schemes and through local government - more equitable between
the sexes.[6]
9. In the remaining "short and sharp" inquiry,
not yet concluded, we are considering whether the regime for regulation
of the Call TV quiz sector - in which Ofcom, the Independent Committee
for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services
(ICSTIS) and the Gambling Commission form a trio of regulators
- is sufficient to protect the public interest.
10. Our work in carrying out scrutiny of policy extends
to the many public bodies which come under the Department's wing.
Not all such bodies are directly accountable to Ministers: in
the case of the BBC and Ofcom, it is almost entirely through select
committees that internal policy can be tested in Parliament and
a Parliamentary view can be expressed. We held one-off sessions
with both bodies. We maintained our predecessor Committee's practice
of holding an oral evidence session with the BBC to coincide with
publication of its Annual Report; and in May 2006 we took oral
evidence jointly with the Trade and Industry Select Committee
on Ofcom's draft Annual Plan. Our intention is that such sessions
should become an annual "fixture". Ofcom has welcomed
the initiative.[7]
11. The Department has not published any Green Papers
or White Papers during this Committee's lifetime. Nor has it produced
a draft bill, although it is expected that one will be published
after Easter 2007: the Cultural Property (Armed Conflict) Bill.[8]
The Committee has yet to decide whether or how to build any assessment
of the bill into its work schedule.
Expenditure and administration
12. The Committee took oral evidence from the Secretary
of State and from DCMS officials on the Department's Annual Reports
for both 2005 and 2006. In common with other Committees, our practice
is to submit questions based upon the Report to the Department
and then to treat the Department's response as a memorandum to
inform questioning. We are grateful to the Committee Office Scrutiny
Unit for providing much of the financial expertise and analysis
to support this exercise. The evidence sessions themselves offer
the main opportunity each year to examine the Department's performance
against PSA targets, its relationship with the many NDPBs under
its wing, and staffing and general administrative matters. As
one of the smallest Government departments to be represented by
a Secretary of State in Cabinet,[9]
it is with some trepidation that we watch the Department take
on two projects with a very high public profile - the London 2012
Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and digital switchover. Although
much of the programme management in each case is being carried
out by arm's length bodies - the Olympic Delivery Authority and
Digital UK respectively - the Department provides the strategic
direction. The Committee will have a role throughout this Parliament
in assessing whether the Department is succeeding in assigning
enough staff of the necessary calibre to two such high-risk projects.
13. The Committee pursues an active exchange of correspondence
with the Department on the content and presentation of Main and
Supplementary Estimates and of Resource Accounts. As with examination
of Departmental Annual Reports, we are assisted in this exercise
by the Committee Office Scrutiny Unit. We welcomed an improvement
in the format of memoranda accompanying Supplementary Estimates,
although too much of the information is still presented without
explanation.
14. Our monitoring of the Department's expenditure
and administration takes place alongside detailed studies by the
National Audit Office of Departmental administration, including
use of office accommodation and procurement practices within DCMS
and its sponsored bodies.[10]
We note with approval the introduction of an enhanced role for
the National Audit Office in scrutiny of the value for money achieved
by the BBC[11] as well
as the intention that it should work closely with the Department
on reviewing value for money in relation to the London 2012 Games.[12]
Informing debate in the House
15. Table 2 in the Annex gives an indication of the
various ways in which the Committee's work has informed the work
of the House.
2 Analogue Switch-off, Second Report of the
Committee, Session 2005-06, HC 650-I Back
3
Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, published
on 6 December 2006 Back
4
Broadcasting Rights for Cricket, First Report of the Committee,
Session 2005-06, HC 720 Back
5
Women's Football, Fourth Report of the Committee, Session
2005-06, HC 1357, paragraph 13 Back
6
Women's Football, Fourth Report of the Committee, Session
2005-06, HC 1357 Back
7
Ofcom Annual Report 2005/6, HC 1280, Session 2005-06, page 3 Back
8
See www.commonsleader.gov.uk Back
9
In terms of both staffing and expenditure. See Civil Service
Statistics 2005, available on the Cabinet Office website;
also Budget 2006: Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report and Financial
Statement and Budget Report, HC 968 (Session 2005-06), Table C13,
page 274 Back
10
Procurement in the Culture, Media and Sport sector, HC 596, Session
2005-06; The office accommodation of the Department for Culture
Media and Sport and its sponsored bodies, HC 942, Session 2005-06. Back
11
Clause 79 of the Agreement between Her Majesty's Secretary of
State for Culture, Media and Sport and the British Broadcasting
Corporation, Cm 6872 Back
12
QQ 138 and 173, evidence taken before the Committee on 21 November
2006, to be published as HC 69-II, Session 2006-07 Back
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