House of Commons

Session 2008 - 09
Publications on the internet
Weekly Information Bulletin

Weekly Information Bulletin: 25th April 2009

Select Committees

Select Committees are set up to examine the work of Government Departments, and now constitute the main investigatory system by which the House overseas the exercise of Government responsibilities and the development of public policy and expenditure.

The following information on Select Committees is available on the Parliament website:

Select Committee membership: www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/selmem.cfm

Links to Select Committee home pages containing information on the work of the Select Committee and its publications: www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/parliamentary_committees16.cfm

For further information on Select Committees see HCIO Factsheet P2 produced by the House of Commons Information Office, available in hardcopy on request or to download from the Parliament website.

Membership:

Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments:

Lord Clinton-Davis appointed

Justice Committee:

Daniel Kawczynski discharged and Mr Douglas Hogg added

North East Regional Select Committee:

Mr David Clelland discharged and Mr Denis Murphy added.

Select Committee Meetings
20 - 24 April 2009

Monday 20 April

West Midlands Regional Committee
Subject: The Impact of the Current Economic and Financial Situation on Businesses in the West Midlands Region.
Witnesses: Barclays Bank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Children, Schools and Families
Subject: Teacher Training.
Witnesses: General Teaching Council for England, Teach First, Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers, and Institute of Education, University of London.

Welsh Affairs
Subject: The National Assembly of Wales (Legislative Competence) (Welsh Language) Order 2009.
Witnesses: Catalan Government representatives; RWE npower, E-On and Virgin Media.

Communities and Local Government
Subject: Traditional Retail Markets.
Witnesses: National Retail Planning Forum and Geraud Group of Companies; Iain Wright MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government.

Tuesday 21 April

Treasury
Subject: Appointment of Paul Fisher to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England.
Witnesses: Paul Fisher, Executive Director, Markets, Bank of England.

Defence
Subject: Russia: A New confrontation?
Witnesses: Rt Hon Baroness Taylor of Bolton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence, and Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP, Minister for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Speaker's Conference
Subject: Speaker's Conference (on Parliamentary Representation).
Witnesses: Janet Gaymer CBE QC, Commissioner for Public Appointments; Hansard Society and Electoral Reform Society; Ray Collins, General Secretary, Labour Party, Rt Hon Theresa May MP and Mr John Maples MP, Conservative Party, and Lord Rennard, Chief Executive, Liberal Democrats.

Environmental Audit
Subject: Role of Carbon Markets in Preventing Dangerous Climate Change.
Witnesses: CBI and EEF; The Carbon Trust.

Business and Enterprise
Subject: Post Offices - Securing Their Future.
Witnesses: Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union; Post Office Ltd.

Home Affairs

Subject: (i) Denis O'Connor, Preferred Candidate for HM Inspector of Constabulary; (ii) Policing of Protests.

Witnesses: (i) Denis O'Connor, CBE, QPM; (ii) Nick Hardwick, Chairman, Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Culture, Media and Sport
Subject: Press Standards, Privacy and Libel.
Witnesses: Nick Davies, journalist and Roy Greenslade, Professor of Journalism, City University.

Scottish Affairs
Subject: Scottish Transport Links and the Credit Crunch.
Witnesses: British Airways and Association of Train Operating Companies; Lord Adonis, Minister of State, Department for Transport.

Justice
Subject: The Role of the Prison Officer.
Witnesses: Stephen Shaw CBE, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, and Dame Anne Owers, DBE, CBE, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons; Bobby Cummines, Chief Executive, UNLOCK, and Danny Afzal, Jason Grant and Charlie Ryder.

Foreign Affairs
Subject: Global Security: Afghanistan.
Witnesses: David Loyn, BBC, James Fergusson, journalist, and Christina Lamb, Sunday Times; Dr Stuart Gordon, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Daniel Korski, European Council on Foreign Relations, and Sajjan Gohel, Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Wednesday 22 April

Energy and Climate Change
Subject: Future of Britain's Electricity Networks.
Witnesses: National Grid, Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Power; Energy and Utility Skills.

Children, Schools and Families
Subject: (i) National Curriculum Tests; (ii) School Accountability.
Witnesses: (i) Dr Ken Boston AO, former Chief Executive, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority; (ii) Cambridge Assessment, City and Guilds, Edexcel.

Work and Pensions
Subject: Tackling Pensioner Poverty in Great Britain.
Witnesses: Pensions Policy Institute and Professor John Hills, Department for Social Policy, London School of Economics.

Committees on Arms Export Controls
Subject: Strategic Export Controls.
Witnesses: Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State, Jo Adamson, Deputy Head of the Counter Proliferation Department and Andrew Massey, Head of the Arms Trade Unit, Counter Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Transport
Subject: Use of Airspace.
Witnesses: Department for Transport, Civil Aviation Authority.

International Development
Subject: Aid under Pressure: Support for Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn.
Witnesses: Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for International Development.

Thursday 23 April

Public Administration
Subject: Operation of the Honours System.
Witnesses: Denis Brennan, Head of the Honours and Appointments Secretariat, Cabinet Office, Dame Alexandra Burslem, Chair of the Education Honours Committee, Sir John Parker, Chair of the Economy Honours Committee and Dame Steve Shirley, member of the Economy Honours Committee.

Health
Subject: Alcohol.
Witnesses: Professor Ian Gilmore, President, Royal College of Physicians and Dr Peter Anderson, Public Health Consultant; Professor Martin Plant, University of Western England, Dr James Nicholls, Bath Spa University, and Dr James Kneale, University College London.

Culture, Media and Sport
Subject: Press Standards, Privacy and Libel.

Witnesses: Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief, and Robin Esser, Executive Managing Editor, Associated Newspapers.

Friday 24 April

None

Forthcoming Select Committee Meetings
27 April - 1 May 2009

Monday 27 April

East Midlands Regional Committee
Subject: East Midlands Development Agency; Regional Economic Strategy.
Witnesses: Jeff Moore, Chief Executive, Michael Carr, Executive Director of Business Services, Glenn Harris, Executive Director of Corporate Services, Diana Gillespie, Executive Director of Regeneration, and Anthony Payne, Executive Director of Strategy and Communications, East Midlands Development Agency.

2:15pm County Council Chamber, Nottingham

Children, Schools and Families
Subject: Teacher Training.
Witnesses: Association of School and College Leaders, Association of Teachers and Lecturers, National Association of Head Teachers, National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, and National Union of Teachers.

3:45pm The Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Treasury
Subject: Budget.
Witnesses: Expert Panel: Robert Chote, Roger Bootle, John Whiting, Martin Weale.

4:00pm The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Welsh Affairs
Subject: The National Assembly of Wales (Legislative Competence) (Welsh Language) Order 2009.
Witnesses: Alun Ffred Jones AM, Minister for Heritage, Welsh Assembly Government; Wayne David MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Wales Office (at 5:00pm).

4:05pm Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster

Public Accounts
Subject: Building the Capacity of the Third Sector.
Witnesses: Mr Campbell Robb, Director General, Office of the Third Sector, Mr Matt Leach, Chief Executive, Capacitybuilders, and Mr Jonathan Lewis, Chief Executive, Futurebuilders.

4:30pm Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster

Tuesday 28 April

Treasury
Subject: Budget.
Witnesses: Treasury Officials. 9:45am The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Regulatory Reform
Subject: Themes and Trends in Regulatory Reform.
Witnesses: Tim Ambler, Senior Research Fellow, London Business School, Clive Davenport, Federation of Small Businesses, Alexander Ehmann, Institute of Directors and Rick Haythornthwaite, Chairman, Risk and Regulation Advisory Council.

10:05am Committee Room 19, Palace of Westminster

Environmental Audit
Subject: The role of carbon markets in preventing dangerous climate change.
Witnesses: EDF Energy; E.ON UK.

10:20am Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster

Home Affairs*
Subject: (i) Macpherson Report - 10 Years On (ii) Work of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
Witnesses: (i) Doreen Lawrence, Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust; Trevor Phillips, Chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission (at 11:00am) (ii) Sir Paul Stephenson QPM, Commissioner, Metropolitan Police (at 11:30am).

10:30am Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster

Welsh Affairs
Subject: Digital Inclusion in Wales.
Witnesses: Leighton Andrews AM, Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Welsh Assembly Government; Citizens Online, Federation of Small Businesses, and Broadband Stakeholder Group (at 11:15am).

10:30am Committee Room 16, Palace of Westminster

Defence
Subject: Readiness and recuperation for the contingent tasks of today.
Witnesses: Rt. Hon John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Defence.

10:30am The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Culture, Media and Sport
Subject: Press standards, privacy and libel.
Witnesses: Peter Hill, Editor, Daily Express.

10:30am Committee Room 6, Palace of Westminster

Joint Committee on Human Rights*
Subject: UN Convention Against Torture.
Witnesses: Mr Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan; Professor Philippe Sands QC, Professor of Law, University College London (at 2:30pm).

1:45pm The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Wednesday 29 April

Energy and Climate Change
Subject: Future of Britain's Electricity Networks.
Witnesses: Renewable Energy Association, Scottish Renewables, and British Wind Energy Association; Association of Electricity Producers (at 10:15am).

9:15am Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Innovation, Universities and Skills Sub-Committee
Subject: Students and Universities.
Witnesses: John Harris, Higher Skills/Education Manager, SEMTA, John Crompton, CBI, and Mike Harris, Head of Education and Skills Policy, IOD, and Andrew Ramsay, Chief Executive Officer, Engineering Council UK; Panel of Students from various Universities (at 10:00am).

9:15am Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster

Children, Schools and Families
Subject: School Accountability.
Witnesses: Civitas, Policy Exchange, and Professor John MacBeath, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge; Advisory Centre for Education, National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, and National Governors' Association (at 10:30am).

9:30am Committee Room 16, Palace of Westminster

International Development
Subject: Sustainable Development in a Changing Climate.
Witnesses: Parliamentary Under-Secretaries, Departments for International Development and Energy & Climate Change.

10:00am Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster

Treasury*
Subject: Budget.
Witnesses: Chancellor of the Exchequer.

2:30pm The Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Transport
Subject: Pre-appointment hearing with the Chairman Designate of the Office of Rail Regulation.
Witnesses: Anna Walker. 2:45pm Committee Room 6, Palace of Westminster

Thursday 30 April

Public Administration*
Subject: Executive Pay in the Public Sector.
Witnesses: Polly Toynbee, The Guardian, Tony Travers, London School of Economics, David Clark, Director General, SOLACE and Ben Farrugia, The Taxpayers Alliance. 10:00am The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House