Innovations in Working Methods
48. Since the General Election the Committee has
introduced a number of innovations in its working methods. First,
it decided to publish written evidence when possible at the beginning
of an inquiry. This means that the written evidence is available
in one volume, and on the Committee's webpage, before the first
oral evidence session.[24]
The Committee has continued this exercise for almost every inquiry
since.[25] The practice
has several advantages. Evidence is available in one relatively
slim volume which is much easier to use than the bulky photocopied
memoranda which would otherwise have to be dragged around. In
addition, witnesses are able to see what evidence each of them
have submitted, which stimulates further discussion and comment.
It was a pleasure to see the Secretary of State, the Permanent
Secretary and the Director of Finance arrive for an evidence session
on the PEQ with well-thumbed copies of the evidence.
49. Another innovation has been the informal meetings
with the Chairman on Mondays, and to which other members of the
Committee are invited. In total the Chairman has held over 70
such meetings since the election. They provide an excellent opportunity
for organisations in the health sector to raise concerns about
current health policy. The Chairman has met many of the Department's
Arm's Length Bodies (see paragraph 39), Royal Colleges, Unions
and NGOs working in the health service. The Chairman also met
members of the National Youth Parliament who had carried out a
consultation amongst school children regarding the teaching of
sexual health.
50. The PEQ exercise generates a large amount
of information from the Department, much of it in the form of
tables. These are provided to the Committee by the Department
as spreadsheets. In the past, while the information was published,
the spreadsheets were not available to the public which restricted
their ability to manipulate it. This year the Committee placed
the spreadsheets on its website.[26]
24 See our First Report of Session 2005-06, Smoking
in Public Places, HC 485-I. The deadline for written submissions
was 14 September, the volume of written evidence was published
on 19 October and the first oral evidence session was on Thursday
20 October 2006. Back
25
The exception being Changes to Primary Care Trusts where
it was not possible as the Committee announced the inquiry on
21 October and held the first oral evidence session on 3 November
2006. Back
26
See www.parliament.uk/healthcom Back
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