Select Committee on Defence Sixth Report

3  Working Practices and Innovation

49. This part of our report highlights aspects of our working practices which depart from previous practice or which may otherwise be of interest.

Evidence away from Westminster

50. When the current Committee was formed in July 2005, we resolved to take evidence away from Westminster on a regular basis, in order to engage more effectively with the public around the country. In 2007, we have continued our practice of taking evidence away from Westminster, although we have not managed to do so as much as we had hoped. In June 2007, we took evidence in Birmingham as part of our inquiry into Medical Care for the Armed Forces. There we took evidence from the NHS trust which hosted the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, from other NHS trusts which work with the MoD and from the British Medical Association (BMA). In October 2007, also as part of our Medical Care inquiry, we took evidence in Edinburgh to examine the cooperation between the MoD and the NHS in delivering healthcare to Service personnel and veterans, especially (though not exclusively) in Scotland. We took evidence from the Royal College of Psychiatrists to find out about how effectively the NHS looked after ex-Service personnel with mental health needs, and from a panel of representatives of the Scottish Executive.

51. Planning evidence sessions away from Westminster involves considerable logistical difficulties, but we believe the practice is worthwhile. Our inquiry into Medical Care for the Armed Forces has undoubtedly benefited from taking evidence from officials and medical care professionals in Edinburgh and Birmingham who might otherwise have been unable to give evidence to us. As we note below, we believe this practice has also helped us to extend the range of witnesses from whom we take evidence.

52. We are pleased to note that in 2007 the Whips have been understanding in accommodating both our desire to take evidence away from Westminster and our programme of Committee visits.

Extending our range of witnesses

53. Last year, we noted that in the field of defence there is a risk that the MoD is a monopoly supplier of information and we made clear our commitment to extending the range of witnesses from whom we take evidence. In 2007, we sought to continue this practice. In our inquiries into Strategic Lift, The Army's requirement for armoured vehicles: the FRES programme, and the UK/US Defence Trade Cooperation Treaty, we took evidence from large multinational defence companies, small and medium sized enterprises, and manufacturers' associations. We have also taken evidence from trade unions representing civilian staff in the defence sector, and from leading defence academics.

54. In early 2007, as part of our inquiry into the Future of the UK's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent: the White Paper, we took evidence from campaigning organisations and from legal experts on the international legal and treaty implications of the Government's proposals to retain and renew Trident. In our inquiries into UK operations in Afghanistan and UK land operations in Iraq 2007 we again sought a broader range of witnesses. Rather than simply depend on the MoD for information and updates on the situation in both theatres of operation, we have taken evidence from academics, think tanks, journalists, aid organisations and from London-based Iraqi and Afghan nationals. We believe that this has given us a much richer picture of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and we intend to continue to seek advice from these sources as well as from the MoD.

55. Although we have taken evidence from Ministers and officials at the MoD as part of all of our inquiries, our evidence-taking from Government was not limited to the Ministry of Defence. As part of our inquiry into Medical Care for the Armed Forces we took evidence from the Minister of State for Health Services at the Department of Health; from representatives of the Scottish Executive; and from NHS Trusts. We have also taken evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in our inquiries into the Future of NATO and European Defence, the Future of the UK's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent: the White Paper, and on our single evidence session on Iraq, held jointly with the Foreign Affairs Committee, with the Defence and Foreign Secretaries in January 2007. As part of our inquiry into the UK/US Defence Trade Cooperation Treaty, we took oral evidence from the Cabinet Office as well as from the MoD. A complete list of witnesses and oral evidence sessions is provided in Annex 3.

Webforum

56. In 2006, we held a webforum as part of our inquiry into Educating Service Children in which we encouraged Service children, parents and teachers to tell us about their experiences. In 2007, we have held a further webforum, this time as part of our inquiry into Medical Care for the Armed Forces. This was the first Committee webforum hosted internally by the House of Commons.[26] This was intended to obtain the personal views of Service personnel and others who may not wish to contribute formal evidence to our inquiries. We ran this webforum in two stages either side of the Parliamentary summer recess. We received in excess of 150 postings from people who had registered. It provided us with an opportunity to respond to comments posted on the forum and for contributors in turn to respond to our comments. We believe it was a useful way of engaging public interest in our inquiries and of furthering well-informed debate on defence matters. It also allowed us to hear the views of those who might not otherwise have made representations to a Select Committee inquiry.

Publication of evidence on the internet

57. In our last report on The work of the Committee in 2005 and 2006 we highlighted our newly-adopted practice of publishing the memoranda received on our website during the course of our inquiries rather than waiting until the report was published. In 2007, we continued this practice and believe it to be important in encouraging debate and stimulating a greater response to our calls for evidence.

Seminars

58. As we explained in our previous report on the work of the Committee, the list of the formal activities of the Committee gives only a partial picture of the work that we do. Formal evidence naturally forms the backbone of our work and underpins our inquiries. However, we have also held a number of informal seminars in addition to a large number of informal meetings with visiting delegations.

59. In 2007, we held two seminars and we plan to hold a further, horizon-scanning seminar early in 2008. At the beginning of 2007, we held an internal seminar with our specialist advisors, including our newly-appointed Service advisors, to consider our working practices and the issues we address. We held a second informal seminar before our visit to the United States and Canada during which we were given a briefing by MoD officials on key developments and issues in bilateral UK-US and UK-Canadian relations, including relevant operational and defence industry issues as well as an overall political and foreign policy briefing. We also received informal, confidential briefings from the MoD on the UK/US Defence Trade Co-operation Treaty and on the Fulton Report into the Iran hostages incident. In our forthcoming seminar, which we hope to hold at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham, we plan to reflect critically on our performance to date, identify areas where we can further improve our working practices, and establish our priorities for the year ahead. A list of our seminars and informal briefings is listed in Annex 4.

Inward visits

60. As we noted in our previous report, this Parliament has seen a growing number of visitors from overseas. This trend continued in 2007. During the course of the year we met a large number of foreign delegations. We hosted meetings with delegations of MPs from the Canadian, Hungarian, South Korean and Indonesian parliaments. We also met government ministers from, or ambassadors of, Georgia, Albania, Norway, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Colombia. In addition, we held informal meeting with Sir Emyr Jones Parry, the then UK Ambassador to the United Nations, and with Ambassador Francesc Vendrell, the EU Special Representative to Afghanistan. A list of our meetings with inward visitors is listed in Annex 4.

Outward visits

61. In 2007, as in 2006, we visited UK Forces on deployment in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Visiting our troops wherever they are deployed is crucial to our understanding of the conditions in which our Armed Forces operate. We visited Afghanistan in April 2007 as part of our inquiry into UK operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, we met UK officials and Afghan politicians in Kabul, and UK Forces, local politicians, and local representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, in Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan. Having travelled to Afghanistan via Pakistan in 2006, we decided in 2007 to travel to Afghanistan via India, where we held discussions with senior Indian government and military representatives in New Delhi. We travelled to Iraq in July 2007 as part of our inquiry into UK land operations in Iraq 2007. In Basra, we met UK Forces and local politicians at the Contingency Operating Base at Basra Air Station and Royal Naval commanders at the port of Um Qasr. In Baghdad, we met the UK and US Ambassadors to Iraq, UK and US military commanders, and senior Iraqi politicians including the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister.

62. We undertook an extensive programme of visits to European NATO capitals and to NATO Headquarters in Brussels as part of our inquiry into The Future of NATO and European Defence. The Committee travelled, in small groups of up to four Members, to Berlin, Copenhagen, The Hague, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Rome, and Warsaw. In each of these capitals, we held discussions with the UK Ambassador and Embassy team as well as ministers and officials of the foreign and defence ministries, members of parliament, and local think tanks to hear their views on the future role of the Alliance, its deployment to Afghanistan, and the NATO's relationship with the European Union.

63. As part of this inquiry we travelled to the United States and Canada in June 2007. In Washington DC, we met senior Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council officials, Members of the House of Representatives and Senate Armed Services Committees, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We also held a roundtable discussion with prominent members of the Washington think tank community at the Atlantic Council. In Ottawa, we met the Defence Minister, and his opposition shadow, the Committee of National Defence of the Canadian Parliament, and other senior Canadian politicians and think tank representatives.

64. In October 2007 we concluded our programme of NATO visits with visits to Georgia and Turkey. In Tbilisi, we met the Georgian Minister of State for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, the Defence Minister and his deputy, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament and Members of the Foreign Affairs and Defence and Security Committees. We also had a briefing from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on its work in Abkhazia and South Ossetia—areas of unresolved conflicts in Georgia—and we met representatives of opposition parties. In Ankara, we met the Defence Minister, the Turkish General Staff, the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the Chairman of Turkey's delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. We also saw the Turkish Armed Forces in training at their base on the outskirts of Ankara.

65. In 2007, we have also continued our visits to defence establishments in the UK. As part of our inquiry into The work of Defence Estates, we visited Hounslow Barracks and Pirbright in Surrey in May 2007 to see for ourselves the accommodation available to UK Service personnel. We visited the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, Combat Stress, and Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham in June 2007, and RFA Argus in Portsmouth, and Strensall Barracks in Yorkshire and Redford Barracks in Edinburgh as part of our inquiry into Medical Care for the Armed Forces.

66. We have also continued our programme of industry visits. In January 2007, we visited SELEX SA&S in Edinburgh. As part of our inquiry into The Army's requirement for armoured vehicles: the FRES programme, we attended the FRES trials at Bovington in Dorset in July 2007. We hope to conduct more visits to defence industries within the UK in 2008. A complete list of visits undertaken in 2007 is set out in Annex 2.

Political engagement within Europe

67. In 2007, the Chairman of the Committee attended several meetings of Chairmen of Defence Committees of EU Member States: in Berlin in April 2007; in Lisbon in September 2007; and in Naples in December 2007. Our Chairman also represented the Committee at the French Summer Defence Conference in September 2007. Individual Members of the Committee also represented the Committee at similar defence conferences in Europe.

Petitions

68. On 25 October 2007, the House of Commons approved the proposals set out in the Government's response to the Procedure Committee's report on petitions and Early Day Motions. Committees are now required to keep records of the petitions to the House which they receive and formally place them on their agendas. This followed the Modernisation Committee's recommendation, in November 2003, that "there is a case for the House to do more with public petitions which, if handled correctly, represent a potentially significant avenue for communication between the public and Parliament" .[27]

69. In 2007, we received copies of several petitions:

• from residents of the Isle of Arran asking the House to urge the Government to scrap the Trident nuclear missile system and abandon plans for its update or replacement (laid before the House by Katy Clark MP on 13 March 2007);
• from residents of Essex, Dorset and others "imploring the Government" to adopt a policy of free postage of parcels and letters to members of HM Armed Forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (laid before the House by Bob Spink MP on 29 March);
• from Sussex Action for Peace calling for British troops to be removed from Iraq immediately (laid before the House by Celia Barlow MP on 1 May 2007);
• from Councillor Jon Freeman regarding the policy of the Ministry of Defence on the upkeep of Drill Halls (laid before the House by Norman Baker MP on 18 May 2007);
• from David Cain, Philip Redl and others calling for free postage to HM Armed Forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (laid before the House by Bob Spink MP on 3 July 2007);
• from residents of Castle Point and others calling for more generous policies, and priority in housing, to serving and returning members of the Armed Forces, in recognition of their contribution in Iraq and Afghanistan (laid before the House by Bob Spink MP on 21 November).

We have written to the MoD seeking their observations on the Drill Halls petition and on the cost of posting parcels to Iraq and Afghanistan and have published the responses on our website.

Specialist advisers

70. Our work has been greatly assisted by our team of specialist advisers: Paul Beaver, Rear Admiral Richard Cheadle, Professor Michael Clarke, Major General Timothy Cross, Professor David Kirkpatrick, Dr Andrew Rathmell, Rear Admiral David Snelson, and Air Marshal Philip Sturley. Dr Sibylle Bauer, Dr Paul Cornish and Joanna Kidd ably advised the Quadripartite Committee. Their advice, both directly to the Members of the Committee and through our staff, was invaluable.

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26   Our 2006 webforum was hosted by The Hansard Society, as had been the practice with previous such operations. Back

27   Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons, First Report, Session 2003-04, Connecting Parliament with the Public, HC 368, para 99 Back

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Prepared 31 January 2008