2 Select committees' role and core
tasks
The purpose of scrutiny
11. Select committees are each given a task by the
House of Commons (the "order of reference" set down
in the Standing Orders or founding resolution of the House) but
they are free to interpret it as they wish. Some committees (the
Administration Committee and the Committee on Standards and Privileges,
for example) have an internal focus; but most are tasked with
scrutiny of Government or of forms of Government legislation.
It is the scrutiny committees which are the focus of this inquiry.
12. While there is no clear and agreed statement
of what scrutiny is for, the purpose of the scrutiny committees
is often described as being to "hold Ministers to account".[8]
Certainly an important element of our work is to require Ministers
and civil servants to explain and justify their actions and policies,
to subject them to robust challenge; and to expose Government
— both ministerial decision-making and departmental administration
— to the public gaze (though some elements of scrutiny —
where matters of national security are involved, for example —
have to be in private). Some would argue that scrutiny, and the
openness it brings, are an end in itself; others that its ultimate
purpose is to improve Government. The political reality is that,
individually, Members' agendas will differ: some will be keener
to improve the Government's performance, others to expose its
weaknesses. But, collectively, select
committees should influence policy and have an impact on Government
departments and the agencies to which their functions may be devolved.
This is our first objective. The extent of this influence and
impact is the primary measure of the effectiveness of select committees.
13. But committees are not only concerned with influencing
Government. Many reports contain recommendations targeted at bodies
outside Government: the European Commission, for example, professional
bodies and occasionally private sector companies. And, in a growing
number of cases, third parties — including private sector
bodies — can be the focus of committee inquiries. Increasingly,
the private sector is involved in delivering public services,
and committees have a legitimate interest in scrutinising how
taxpayers' money is spent. And some private sector services are
of such concern that the public expect the committee to intervene,
filling the accountability gap. The inquiries by the Transport
Committee into the cost of motor insurance, and the Treasury Committee
into retail banking are examples.[9]
While committees' primary
purpose is to scrutinise Government, it is sometimes in the public
interest for them to extend their scrutiny to other organisations.
14. A further important function of committees is
to act as a forum for discussion and informed debate, raising
issues in the public consciousness and giving a public platform
to experts and affected individuals. The Environmental Audit Committee
reported, for example, that "as much as holding Government
to account, we have also raised the profile of vital global issues".[10]
Scrutiny committees are not
just involved in scrutinising others but have an active role to
play themselves in putting issues on the agenda and acting as
a forum for public debate.
15. Some witnesses considered that it was a further
function of committees to help Parliament engage with the public.
Professor Matthew Flinders saw committees as having a dual role:
first to hold the executive to account, and secondly to promote
public understanding of politics.[11]
Many committees reported that they saw public engagement activity
as an important part of the work.[12]
Core tasks
16. In 2002 the House of Commons agreed the recommendation
of the Modernisation Committee that a set of common objectives
should be set for select committees.[13]
The Liaison Committee at the time subsequently agreed a set of
"core tasks" which are set out in Table 1 below.[14]
These core tasks were not designed to be prescriptive but to serve
as a reminder to the departmental select committees of the broad
range of their responsibilities, to guard against them focusing
on policy to the exclusion of other matters, and to ensure that
they support the House in its legislative role and in its control
of public money. The list of tasks is a little daunting, and some
— the Wright Committee included — have questioned
whether they are realistic given the pressures on Members' time.
Some committees reported that the full range of the core tasks
were not relevant to their brief;[15]
but the evidence from their activity reports suggests that most
took effort to cover, if not all, at least most of the core tasks
over the course of the parliamentary Session. Much of the background
scrutiny can be done by committee staff, or by the House of Commons
Scrutiny Unit, with only significant issues requiring the attention
of the committee itself. We
believe it continues to be useful to define core tasks for committees,
to guide committees in deciding their programme, but not to constrain
their freedom to decide their own priorities.
TABLE 1 — CURRENT CORE TASKS
| OBJECTIVE A: TO EXAMINE AND COMMENT ON THE POLICY OF THE DEPARTMENT
|
| Task 1 | To examine policy proposals from the UK Government and the European Commission in Green Papers, White Papers, draft Guidance etc, and to inquire further where the Committee considers it appropriate.
|
| Task 2 | To identify and examine areas of emerging policy, or where existing policy is deficient, and make proposals.
|
| Task 3 | To conduct scrutiny of any published draft bill within the Committee's responsibilities.
|
| Task 4 | To examine specific output from the department expressed in documents or other decisions.
|
| OBJECTIVE B: TO EXAMINE THE EXPENDITURE OF THE DEPARTMENT
|
| Task 5 | To examine the expenditure plans and out-turn of the department, its agencies and principal NDPBs.
|
| OBJECTIVE C: TO EXAMINE THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DEPARTMENT
|
| Task 6 | To examine the department's Public Service Agreements, the associated targets and the statistical measurements employed, and report if appropriate.
|
| Task 7 | To monitor the work of the department's Executive Agencies, NDPBs, regulators and other associated public bodies.
|
| Task 8 | To scrutinise major appointments made by the department.
|
| Task 9 | To examine the implementation of legislation and major policy initiatives.
|
| OBJECTIVE D: TO ASSIST THE HOUSE IN DEBATE AND DECISION
|
| Task 10 | To produce reports which are suitable for debate in the House, including Westminster Hall, or debating committees.
|
17. Ten years on, it is not surprising that the core tasks are
a little out of date. The Government has now abandoned Public
Service Agreements, for example. And they make no reference to
some tasks which committees are now expected to do: to examine
petitions received by the House, for example, and scrutinise draft
orders under the Public Bodies Act.
18. The Better Government Initiative (which involves
a number of retired senior civil servants) argued that the core
tasks should be made "simpler, more vivid and more specific"
and should encourage committees to focus on Departments' delivery
of public services:
the quantity and quality of their outputs and outcomes,
their funding, value for money and the department's information
for monitoring current performance and for making longer term
decisions, notably about efficiency gains, including new methods
of delivery, and new investments.[16]
19. The current core tasks envisage that the scrutiny
of expenditure, administration and policy are separate activities.
Arguably, this no longer makes sense. Given competition for scarce
resources, it is increasingly important that committees assess
policy decisions alongside their financial implications, and vice
versa. And departmental financial management and performance in
delivery are intertwined. Moreover, now that Chairs and members
of committees have an elected mandate from the House, select committees
are increasingly proactive in their efforts to influence the strategic
direction of government and its departments.
20. We set out in Table 2 below revised core tasks,
which we encourage committees to take into account when planning
their programmes. They will not all be relevant to every committee;
and some committees — those with a large amount of legislation,
for example — will not have the time to cover everything.
TABLE 2: REVISED SELECT COMMITTEE CORE TASKS FOR DEPARTMENTAL SELECT
COMMITTEES
Overall aim: To hold Ministers and Departments to account for their policy and decision-making and to support the House in its control of the supply of public money and scrutiny of legislation
STRATEGY
Task 1 To examine the strategy of the department, how it has identified its key objectives and priorities and whether it has the means to achieve them, in terms of plans, resources, skills, capabilities and management information
POLICY
Task 2 To examine policy proposals by the department, and areas of emerging policy, or where existing policy is deficient, and make proposals
EXPENDITURE AND PERFORMANCE
Task 3 To examine the expenditure plans, outturn and performance of the department and its arm's length bodies, and the relationships between spending and delivery of outcomes
DRAFT BILLS
Task 4 To conduct scrutiny of draft bills within the committee's responsibilities
BILLS AND DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Task 5 To assist the House in its consideration of bills and statutory instruments, including draft orders under the Public Bodies Act
POST-LEGISLATIVE SCRUTINY
Task 6 To examine the implementation of legislation and scrutinise the department's post- legislative assessments
EUROPEAN SCRUTINY
Task 7 To scrutinise policy developments at the European level and EU legislative proposals
APPOINTMENTS
Task 8 To scrutinise major appointments made by the department and to hold pre-appointment hearings where appropriate
SUPPORT FOR THE HOUSE
Task 9 To produce timely reports to inform debate in the House, including Westminster Hall, or debating committees, and to examine petitions tabled
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Task 10 To assist the House of Commons in better engaging with the public by ensuring that the work of the committee is accessible to the public
|
8 See Q 1 Back
9
Ev w48, para 8 [Note: references to 'Ev wXX' are references
to written evidence published in the volume of additional written
evidence published on the Committee's website]; Transport
Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2010-12, The cost of motor
insurance, HC 591. Treasury Committee, Ninth Report of Session
2010-12, Competition and choice in retail banking, HC 612-I. Back
10
Ev w20 Back
11
Ev 14, para 10 Back
12
Eg Education, Ev w13; EFRA, Ev w23 Back
13
Modernisation of the House of Commons Committee, First Report
of Session 2001-02, Select Committees, HC 224-I, para 33.
HC Deb 14 May 2002, cols 648-730. Back
14
Decision of Liaison Committee, 20 June 2002; see Liaison Committee,
First Report of Session 2002-03, Annual Report for 2002,HC
558, para 13 and Appendix 1. Back
15
Eg Foreign Affairs Committee, Ev w32 Back
16
Ev w76-78 Back
|
