Summary
The Procedure Committee has considered a matter remitted to it by the Committee in the last Parliament, namely the position of the select committee chairs first elected to their post after the 2010 election who, because of the early election in June 2017 and the operation of Standing Order No. 122A, are liable to vacate their posts in July or September 2018, after less than a year of service in this Parliament.
The Committee has reviewed the principles which informed the initial establishment of term limits for committee chairs. It considers that the maximum term to be served by a committee chair should be equivalent to two Parliaments: since the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 this period is ten years.
The Committee recommends a variation in the relevant standing order as it applies in this Parliament in order to allow the chairs affected to serve a ten-year term. At the end of that term in 2020, on the tenth anniversary of assumption of office, the relevant committee posts will fall vacant, if not already vacated by resignation.
7 February 2018