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:

None

Select Committee Meetings

15 - 19 March 2010

Monday 15 March

Public Accounts
Subject: (i) Helping over-indebted consumers (ii) National Audit Office Resource Estimate for 2010-11
Witnesses: (i) Simon Fraser, Permanent Secretary, and Ben Coates, Deputy Director, Consumer Credit and Product Safety, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Sue Lewis, Director, Savings and Investments, HM Treasury (ii) Amyas Morse, Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office

Communities and Local Government
Subject: Housing and Planning
Witnesses: Rt Hon John Healey MP, Minister for Housing, Department for Communities and Local Government, and Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive, Homes and Communities Agency

Tuesday 16 March

Treasury
Subject: The end of cheques?
Witnesses: Consumer Focus, Age Concern and Help the Aged, Institute of Fundraising, and British Cheque and Credit Association; Payments Council

Home Affairs
Subject: The work of the Metropolitan Police
Witnesses: Tim Godwin, Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police, and Kit Malthouse, Chair, Metropolitan Police Association

Business, Innovation and Skills
Subject: Company takeovers, mergers and acquisitions
Witnesses: Jack Dromey, Deputy General Secretary, and Jennie Formby, National Officer, Food and Drink Sector, Unite the Union; Marc Firestone, Executive Vice-President, Kraft Foods Inc., Trevor Bond, President, and Richard Doyle, HR Director, Cadbury Britain & Ireland, Cadbury/Kraft

Public Accounts Commission
Subject: NAO's Estimate for 2010-11
Witnesses: Amyas Morse, Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir Andrew Likierman, Chairman, Michael Whitehouse, Chief Operating Officer, and Jim Rickleton, Director-General, Finance and Commerce, National Audit Office

Wednesday 17 March

Culture, Media and Sport
Subject: Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2012: Legacy
Witnesses: Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham and Chair of the Host Boroughs Joint Committee, Jules Pipe CBE, Mayor of Hackney, and Roger Taylor, Director of the Host Boroughs Unit; Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office and for the Olympics, David Brooker, Director, Legacy, Government Olympic Executive, and Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government

Transport
Subject: The impact of flooding on bridges and other transport infrastructure in Cumbria
Witnesses: Cumbria County Council, Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport, and Institution of Civil Engineers; UK Roads Liaison Group, Network Rail, and Environment Agency; Department for Transport, and Highways Agency

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Subject: Defra Science
Witnesses: Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Professor Alistair Hetherington, Defra Science Advisory Council, Dr Timothy Hall, Head of Unit for Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Aquaculture, EU DG Research, Steve Visscher, Deputy Chief Executive, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Miranda Kavanagh, Director of Evidence, Environment Agency, Henry Robinson, Vice President, Country Land and Business Association and Dr David Gibbons, Head of Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Public Accounts
Subject: Renewal of the BBC Estate
Witnesses: Jeremy Peat, Trustee for Scotland, BBC Trust, Mark Thompson, Director General, Caroline Thomson, Chief Operating Officer, and Zarin Patel, Chief Financial Officer, BBC

Thursday 18 March

None

Friday 19 March

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
22 - 26 March 2010

Monday 22 March

London Regional Committee Subject: Government policy on the provision of affordable housing in London Witnesses: Bob Wilson, Assistant Director for Market Intelligence, National Housing Federation, Mark Thomas, Head of Policy, Shelter, and Steve Howlett, Chief Executive, Peabody, and Chair, G15; Andrew Melville, Head of Housing and Planning, Government Office for London, and David Lunts, Regional Director for London, Homes and Communities Agency (at 3.15pm)	2:30pm	Committee Room 6, Palace of Westminster
National Security Strategy Subject: National Security Strategy Witnesses: Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State, and Admiral Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office, and Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP, Secretary of State for Defence	3:30pm	Committee Room 4a, Palace of Westminster
Children, Schools and Families Subject: Ofsted Inspection of Children's Services Witnesses: Christine Gilbert CBE, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills, Miriam Rosen, Executive Director, and John Goldup, Director, Development, Social Care, Ofsted	4:15pm	The Wilson Room, Portcullis House
Public Accounts* Subject: Major trauma care in England Witnesses: Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chief Executive of the NHS in England, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh KBE, NHS Medical Director, and Professor Keith Willett, National Clinical Director for Trauma Care, Department of Health, and Fionna Moore, Medical Director, London Ambulance Service, NHS Trust	4:30pm	Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster

Tuesday 23 March

Treasury

Subject: Mortgage arrears: follow up

Witnesses: Shelter, Which? and Citizens Advice; Council of Mortgage Lenders, Finance and Leasing Association, and Building Societies Association (at 10.30 a.m.); Financial Services Authority (at 11.15 a.m.)

9.45 a.m.

The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Home Affairs*
Subject: (i) The work of the Information Commissioner's Office Society (ii) The work of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (iii) The work of the Security Industry Authority
Witnesses: (i) Christopher Graham, Information Commissioner (ii) Professor Les Iversen, Interim Chair, Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (at 11.30am) (iii) Security Industry Authority (at 12 noon)

10:45am

The Wilson Room, Portcullis House

Wednesday 24 March

Science and Technology*
Subject: Science Question Time
Witnesses: Rt Hon Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

10:00am

The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Public Accounts*
Subject: Managing offenders on short custodial sentences
Witnesses: Phil Wheatley, Chief Executive, National Offender Management Service

3:30pm

Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster

Thursday 25 March

Health*
Subject: Value for money in the NHS
Witnesses: Andrew Haldenby, Director, Reform, Professor John Appleby, Chief Economist, The King's Fund, and Professor Bernard Crump, Chief Executive Officer, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement

10:00am

The Wilson Room, Portcullis House