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Review of House of Lords investigative and scrutiny committee activity in 2021–22 Contents

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

1.2021–2022 was another exceptionally busy year for House of Lords committees, as the activity indicators in Appendix 1 demonstrate. The number of committee meetings remained much higher than was the case in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, as did the number of witnesses giving oral evidence to committees. This increase in activity illustrates how committees have continued to adapt and develop during the past two years, regardless of their operating model.

2.2021–2022 was also the year when the second and final phase of the new committee structure recommended by the Liaison Committee’s review of committees was implemented in full. Our July 2019 report on the 18-month review proposed the start of a significant change in the positioning of House of Lords committees to begin to put in place a thematic approach designed to ensure more effective scrutiny of all the major areas of public policy.1 On 15 December 2020 we published our final recommendations in relation to committee restructuring. These tied in with our earlier decision that the existing EU Committee and the remaining EU Sub-Committees should continue until 31 March 2021 in order to facilitate a managed process of change.2 The new additional sessional Committees which were appointed by the House in April 2021 have broad, cross-cutting remits, intended to enable them to adjust flexibly and swiftly to challenges.3

3.The former EU Sub-Committees with relatively small and EU focussed policy remits have been succeeded by the following thematic Committees:

• Built Environment
• Environment and Climate Change
• Industry and Regulators
• Justice and Home Affairs

4.In addition, the International Agreements Committee succeeded a Sub-Committee scrutinising that area.

5.Gone is the EU Committee and its umbrella structure of Sub-Committees. In its place is a single European Affairs Committee with a dedicated sub-committee for the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol. That Sub-Committee places a high priority on good cooperation with Oireachtas and Northern Ireland Assembly counterparts, as well as with the House of Commons. House of Lords Committees have also been prioritising engagement with counterparts in devolved legislatures more broadly—the Constitution Committee has been visiting and reaching out for views as part of recent work on the future of the Union; the Lords hosted the first meeting of the Interparliamentary Forum in late February 2022 which agreed a working model for that body following its transition from a Brexit forum4; and there was dialogue with the devolved legislatures and the House of Commons prior to the first meeting of the new EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in May 2022.

6.The new committee structure was implemented in advance of supporting resources being evaluated. An external review of Committee Office staffing was carried out in autumn 2021. It recommended a 10% increase in staffing (seven posts, with further resource for committee communications) with the additional staff to be pooled centrally.

Additional scrutiny areas

7.In December 2021 the House agreed to a report from this Committee5 which designated the International Relations and Defence Committee as the committee responsible, under Section 3 of the Trade Act 2021, for conducting any inquiry to consider whether “there exist credible reports of a genocide” in the territory of a prospective counter-party to a Free Trade Agreement with the UK. In January 2022 the Chair of the Committee wrote to the Chair of the International Agreements Committee setting out a Memorandum of Understanding as to how the two Committees will work together on this issue.6 In February 2022 the Committee was given the power to appoint a sub-committee to carry out such an inquiry.

Virtual committee meetings

8.As we noted in our highlights report for 2020–2021, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020 there had never been a virtual committee meeting in either House of Parliament. Committees started to meet virtually in April 2020 and by the end of the 2020/21 financial year over 1000 witnesses had given evidence to virtual committee meetings.

9.On 15 June 2021 the House of Lords Commission decided that committees themselves should be allowed to consider their preferred way of working from 6 September.7 Since then, individual committees have been able to choose whether to meet in physical, virtual or hybrid form. In practice, most now choose to offer a hybrid option for members or witnesses who request this, often at short notice. This facility has required a considerable degree of flexibility amongst committee staff, at a time when proceedings in the Chamber and Grand Committee were returning for the most part to a pre-pandemic working model. The way in which staff have responded to this has been an excellent example of demonstrating the Administration’s value of professionalism, and has also furthered inclusivity in accommodating the needs of members and witnesses.

10.Between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and April 2022 there were 1,490 committee meetings for which information is held. Of these, 97% have taken advantage of the new capability by being virtual or hybrid. Of the 2,521 witnesses, over 2,000 appeared remotely. Between January and April 2022 92% of meetings continued to use hybrid or remote capability in some form.

11.The perceived advantages of being able to offer a hybrid meeting option mean that there are no plans to discontinue this.

Committee room accommodation

12.The availability of committee rooms in the House of Lords has not kept pace with the sustained increase in committee activity, both in terms of the number of committees and the number of committee meetings. To assist with the pressure on accommodation, this Committee asked the special inquiry Committees which were appointed in January 2022 to meet on Mondays and Thursdays. We also encouraged committees to consider holding private meetings (which by their nature do not need broadcasting facilities) to meet in Millbank House, across the road from the Palace. We are grateful to those committees who have done so.

Aligning the rotation rule with the appointment of special inquiry committees

13.In order to secure a regular turnover of membership, a “rotation rule” operates in the case of most House of Lords committees. From its inception until 2021, this rule was linked to parliamentary sessions, and following the previous revision of the rule members were typically appointed onto committees, or sub-committees, for three successive sessions. They could not be reappointed to the same committee in the following two sessions. The application of this rule is intended to allow more members keen to take part in select committee work to do so.

14.Following a recommendation in the report by the Procedure and Privileges Committee published on 13 October 2020,8 select committee member rotations now take place at the beginning of January each year. In November 2021 we published our recommendations concerning new special inquiry committees ahead of their appointment in January 2022.9 This change has brought the annual cycle of new committee activity into line with member rotations.

Committee Chairs’ Forum

15.The Committee Chairs’ Forum continues to be a valuable means of communicating key information regarding both committees and the Committee Office, addressing issues, and sharing best practice. The Forum was convened for the first time in February 2020, in response to recommendations in the Liaison Committee’s 2019 report, Review of House of Lords Investigative and Scrutiny Committees.10 To date the Forum has met 12 times, with five meetings in the 2021–22 session which have been well attended. The Forum has continued to highlight the requirements of committee activity, including input into ongoing Restoration and Renewal discussions and the allocation of committee room resource and facilities. The Forum has also been keen to explore how the work of committees is communicated both internally and externally and has prioritised this in discussions this year. The Forum has provided an opportunity to share committee innovations which this year included the establishment of the Environment and Climate Change Committee’s Youth Engagement Programme (discussed further in paragraph 48).

Liaison Committee

16.The Liaison Committee itself has continued to be busy, producing six reports during the 2021/22 financial year. On 24 April 2021 we published our report following up the work of the Financial Inclusion Committee.11 We commissioned an Easy Read version of that report12, as we did for our follow-up report on The Equality Act 2010: the impact on disabled people.13

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