House of Commons

Session 2009 - 10
Publications on the internet
Weekly Information Bulletin

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

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)	2:30pm	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)

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	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