Weekly Information Bulletin: 6th February 2010
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 announcements and changes:
National Security Strategy (Joint Committee):
Appointed by the House of Lords 1.2.2010
Rt Hon Lord Cope of Berkeley
| Rt Hon Lord Fellowes
| Rt Hon Lord Foulkes of Cunnock
| Lord Harris of Haringey |
Lord Lee of Trafford
| Baroness Manningham-Buller
| Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale
| Lord Stirling of Plaistow |
Rt Hon Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
| Rt Hon Lord Waldegrave of North Hill
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| |
Appointed by the House of Commons 13.1.2010
Rt Hon James Arbuthnot
| Rt Hon Margaret Beckett
| Rt Hon Alan Beith
| Rt Hon Des Browne |
Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce
| Mikes Gapes
| Rt Hon Kim Howells
| Peter Luff |
Rt Hon Paul Murphy
| Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind
| Paddy Tipping
| Rt Hon Keith Vaz |
Select Committee Meetings
1 - 5 February 2010
Monday 1 February
London Regional Committee
Subject: London's population and the 2011 Census
Witnesses: Professor David Martin, Royal Statistical Society, and Keith Dugmore, Demographic User Group
Children, Schools and Families
Subject: The Gifted and Talented Programme
Witnesses: National Association for Able Children in Education, National Association for Gifted Children, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Villiers Park Educational Trust, and Professor Deborah Eyre; Diana R Johnson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families, CfBT Education Trust, and Professor John Stannard CBE
Public Accounts
Subject: The Decent Homes Programme
Witnesses: Mr Peter Housden, Permanent Secretary and Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive, Homes and Communities Agency
and Richard McCarthy, Director General, Housing and Planning, Department for Communities and Local Government
Tuesday 2 February
Business, Innovation and Skills
Subject: Further Education funding and the Skills Funding Agency
Witnesses: South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), UK Commission for Employment and Skills, Association of Colleges, and Local Government Association
Home Affairs
Subject: The Government's Approach to Crime Prevention
Witnesses: Home Office Design and Technology Alliance, and Telecommunications United Fraud Forum; Association of Chief Police Officers; Chris Huhne MP; Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, Graham Allen MP, and Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership
Welsh Affairs
Subject: Wales and Whitehall
Witnesses: Constitution Unit, University College London; Swansea Law School, University of Wales Swansea, Wales Governance Centre, and The Law Society
Liaison
Subject: Oral Evidence from the Prime Minister
Witnesses: Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister
South West Regional
Subject: Prospects for South West economy
Witnesses: EEF South West, Federation of Small Businesses, CBI, and South West Chambers of Commerce; Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, Universities South West, and Regional Infrastructure for Social Enterprise
Justice
Subject: The work of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
Witnesses: (i) Dame Anne Bowers DBE, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons; (ii) Ministry of Justice and
HM Treasury officials
Wednesday 3 February
Energy and Climate Change
Subject: The Proposals for National Policy Statements (NPSs) on Energy
Witnesses: Law Society, and Planning and Environment Bar Association; Environment Agency, and Natural England
Work and Pensions
Subject: Local Housing Allowance
Witnesses: Chartered Institute of Housing, Local Government Association, and Institute of Revenue Ratings and Valuation; Helen Goodman MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions
Children, Schools and Families
Subject: Teaching of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
Witnesses: Professor Derek Bell, Wellcome Trust, Professor Sir John Holman, National Science Learning Centre, Professor Peter Main, Institute of Physics, Dr John Oversby, History and Philosophy for Science Teaching project, Reading University, and David Perks, Physics Teacher
Science and Technology
Subject: The impact of spending cuts on science and scientific research
Witnesses: Professor Brian Cox, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Lord Broers, and Nick Dusic, Director, Campaign for Science and Engineering; Iain Gray, Chief Executive, Technology Strategy Board, Dr Tony Peatfield, Director of Corporate Affairs, Medical Research Council, Professor Michael Sterling, Chair, Science and Technology Facilities Council, and Professor Alan Thorpe, Chair, Research Councils UK
Home Affairs
Subject: (i) The National DNA Database (ii) The Government's Approach to Crime Prevention
Witnesses: (i) Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys (ii) Rt Hon David Hanson MP, Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism, and Stephen Rimmer, Director-General, Crime and Policing Group, Home Office; Chris Grayling MP
Joint Committee on Human Rights
Subject: Counter-terrorism policy and human rights: control orders
Witnesses: Gareth Peirce, Solicitor, Birnberg Peirce, and Sean Mcloughlin, Solicitor, The Rights Partnership; Helen Mountfield, Barrister, Matrix Chambers, Angus McCullough, Barrister, One Crown Office Row, and Thomas de la Mare, Barrister, Blackstone Chambers
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Subject: Dairy Farmers of Britain
Witnesses: Stephen Yates; Bill Mustoe, Chairman, and Jim Maguire, Finance Director, First Milk
Energy and Climate Change
Subject: The Proposals for National Policy Statements (NPSs) on Energy
Witnesses: Infrastructure Planning Commission; Local Government Association
Public Accounts
Subject: Sale of British Energy
Witnesses: Moira Wallace OBE, Permanent Secretary, and Mark Higson, Chief Executive, Office for Nuclear Development, Department of Energy and Climate Change, and Stephen Lovegrove, Chief Executive, and Richard Nourse, Director, Shareholder Executive
Thursday 4 February
Health
Subject: Commissioning
Witnesses: Chris Ham, Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of Birmingham, and Dr Jennifer Dixon, Director, The Nuffield Trust; Rt Hon Mike O'Brien QC MP, Minister of State, Gary Belfield, Director General Commissioning and System Management, and Dr David Colin-Thomé, National Clinical Director for Primary Care, Department of Health
Public Administration
Subject: Committee on Standards in Public Life
Witnesses: Sir Christopher Kelly KCB, Chair, Committee on Standards in Public Life
Welsh Affairs
Subject: Wales and Whitehall
Witnesses: Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister for Wales, and Dame Gillian Morgan DBE, Permanent Secretary, Welsh Assembly Government
Friday 5 February
None
[The decision of a Committee to sit in public may be rescinded without notice]
All public select committee meetings are webcast
Select committees marked with * will be taken by BBC Parliament
Recorded information about forthcoming select and standing committee meetings over the next two sitting days is available on:[Tel 020 7219 2033]. Please note: The decision of a Committee to sit in public may be rescinded, and the place altered without notice and Committees which sit at short notice may not be included in this list.
Forthcoming Select Committee Meetings
8 - 12 February 2010
Monday 8 February
London Regional Committee
Subject: London's population and the 2011 Census
Witnesses: Sir Robin Wales, Mayor, London Borough of Newham, Councillor Nicholas Stanton, Leader, and Duncan Whitfield, Finance Director, London Borough of Southwark, and Councillor Colin Barrow CBE, Leader, Westminster City Council; John Hollis, Demographic Consultant, and Eileen Howes, Principal Research and Statistical Analyst, Greater London Authority, Hugh Grover, Director and Stephen Doogue, Finance and Policy Manager, Fair Funding, London Councils (at 3.30pm)
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2:30pm
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Stratford Town Hall |
Children, Schools and Families
Subject: Young people not in education, employment or training
Witnesses: Barnardo's, Fairbridge, Mencap, and The Prince's Trust; CBI, NG Bailey, and TUC (at 5.00pm)
| 3:45pm
| The Wilson Room, Portcullis House |
North West Regional Committee
Subject: Nuclear power in the North West
Witnesses: National Skills Academy for Nuclear, North West Universities Association, Prospect, and Scottish Power; Copeland Borough Council, Cumbria Vision, and Lake District National Park (at 5.15pm); CORE, and Nuclear Free Local Authorities (at 6.00pm)
| 4:15pm
| Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster |
Communities and Local Government*
Subject: FireControl
Witnesses: Fire Brigades Union, Chief Fire Officers Association, and Local Government Association; European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, and Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State, Sir Ken Knight CBE, Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor, and Shona Dunn, Director for Fire and Resilience, Department for Communities and Local Government (at 5.10pm)
| 4:20pm
| The Grimond Room, Portcullis House |
Public Accounts*
Subject: BBC Major Events
Witnesses: Mr Jeremy Peat, BBC Trustee, Mr Mark Thompson, BBC Director General, Mr Roger Mosey, Director of London 2012 Olympic Games and Mr Tim Davie, Director, Audio and Music, BBC
| 4:30pm
| Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster |
Tuesday 9 February
Treasury*
Subject: (i) Financial institutions - too important to fail? (ii) Audit and accounting
Witnesses: (i) John Varley, Chief Executive, Barclays (ii) Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and the Financial Reporting Council (at 10.45am)
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9:45am
|
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House |
Environmental Audit
Subject: Air Quality
Witnesses: Transport Research Laboratory; Environmental Research Group, Kings College London (at 10.50am); Department for Transport (at 11.30am)
| 10:20am
| Committee Room 6, Palace of Westminster |
Business, Innovation and Skills
Subject: Further Education funding and the Skills Funding Agency
Witnesses: At 10.30: Young People's Learning Agency and Skills Funding Agency At 11.30: Kevin Brennan MP, Minister for education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs, Department for business, Innovation and Skills
| 10:30am
| The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House |
Home Affairs
Subject: The Government's Approach to Crime Prevention
Witnesses: Jill Dando Institute for Crime Science; Maria Eagle MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, and Vernon Coaker MP, Minister for Schools and Learners, Department for Children, Schools and Families (at 11.00 a.m.); Safer Sutton Partnership, and Councillor Lord Tope CBE (at 11.30am); Cricket for Change (at 12 noon)
| 10:30am
| The Wilson Room, Portcullis House |
Welsh Affairs*
Subject: Wales and Whitehall
Witnesses: Legal Services Commission; Sir Gus O'Donnell KCB, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service (at 11.15am); Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Secretary of State for Wales (at 12.00 noon)
| 10:30am
| Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster |
Defence*
Subject: Afghanistan and The Green Paper
Witnesses: Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP, Secretary of State, Jonathan Day, Director General Security Policy, and Lieutenant General Simon Mayall, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Operations), Ministry of Defence
| 10:45am
| Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster |
Wednesday 10 February
Energy and Climate Change
Subject: The Proposals for National Policy Statements (NPSs) on Energy
Witnesses: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE, Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change
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9:15am
|
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House |
Children, Schools and Families
Subject: Teaching of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)
Witnesses: National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, Dr Tony Gardiner, University of Birmingham, and Professor Margaret Brown, King's College London; Engineering UK, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Royal Academy of Engineering, and Professor Peter Kutnick, King's College London (at 10.45am)
| 9:30am
| The Wilson Room, Portcullis House |
Science and Technology
Subject: The impact of spending cuts on science and scientific research
Witnesses: Professor Michael Arthur, Chair, The Russell Group, Professor Paul Wellings, Chair, The 1994 Group, Professor Les Ebdon, Chair, million+, and Professor Janet Beer, Chair, University Alliance; Professor Steve Smith, President, Universities UK, Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Dr Alastair Hunter, President, University and College Union, and Adrian Smith, Director General, Science and Research, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (at 10.30am)
| 9:30am
| The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House |
Scottish Affairs
Subject: Scotland and the UK: cooperation and communication between governments
Witnesses: Chris Bryant MP, Minister for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
| 2:30pm
| The Grimond Room, Portcullis House |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Subject: Dairy Farmers of Britain
Witnesses: Mr Malcolm Smith
| 3:00pm
| The Wilson Room, Portcullis House |
Thursday 11 February
None
Friday 12 February
None
[The decision of a Committee to sit in public may be rescinded without notice]
All public select committee meetings are webcast
Select committees marked with * will be taken by BBC Parliament
Recorded information about forthcoming select and standing committee meetings over the next two sitting days is available on:[Tel 020 7219 2033]. Please note: The decision of a Committee to sit in public may be rescinded, and the place altered without notice and Committees which sit at short notice may not be included in this list.
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