Select Cuts

Highlights from Parliament’s select committees

I hadn’t expected to do another of these so soon after the first, but it’s been a good week.

The Lords Select Committee on Communications has looked at The ownership of the news. It warns: “Owners can and do influence the news… [having] significant political impact. The consolidation of media ownership adds to the risk of disproportionate influence.” There is a “lack of investment in news gathering and investigative and specialist journalism”; and the ‘public interest test’ applied to media mergers “does not include any requirement to establish whether a merger will impact adversely on news gathering”. The Committee is concerned that only ministers can issue public interest intervention notices, and recommends that Ofcom be able to as well.

The Commons Treasury Committee issued a report on the Budget Measures and Low-Income Households. Alistair Darling’s raising of personal allowances to offset losses from abolishing the 10p income tax band “was probably the least bad option, with the benefits of simplicity, transparency and greater incentives to work” – but more is needed in future years, it argues. It recommends that the Treasury should publish regular assessments of “the impact on individual, family and household finances of Budget measures and other changes to the welfare system”. The Committee also says: “The advances made in tackling poverty among those out of work in the last decade has not been matched by comparable progress in tackling poverty among those in work”, and calls for a ‘Poverty Commission’ to be established.

The Treasury Committee has also interviewed Mervyn King and other senior Bank of England figures on the economic outlook.

While the debate on 42-day detention has raged, it still remains the case that 28-day detention is subject to annual parliamentary renewal – which is coming up. The Joint Committee on Human Rights has examined the case for Annual Renewal of 28 Days. The Government is of course seeking renewal, although nobody had been held for longer than 14 days since the last renewal. The Committee is sceptical: “Once again the Government has failed to provide sufficient information to allow us to ascertain whether the power to detain people without charge for up to 28 days is necessary.” It says that “strengthened safeguards” are needed, or else there will be a risk of “breaches of both the European Convention on Human Rights, and the common law right to liberty.”

Finally, the Commons Liaison Committee has had its second six-monthly session with Gordon Brown as PM. Brown said that he had “the best job in the world”, but that he was “looking forward to a holiday”.

Subjects covered included constitutional reform, anti-terrorism laws (and any illicit offers that might have been made to win votes on 42-day detention), oil and food prices, global trade and the EU, transport and fuel duty, inflation and public-sector pay, poverty and welfare, climate change and green taxes, bank regulation, immigration, Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, Zimbabwe, and the ‘responsibility to protect’ and UN reform.

On that last issue, Brown – tellingly – said that while it was “far preferable” to work though the UN, “there will always be ad hoc alliances. Where you cannot reach agreement internationally in the United Nations you will work with those countries where you can do so”. I think that may be a very significant statement of foreign policy. He also gently dripped cold water on John McCain’s idea for a ‘League of Democracies’.

Lib Dem Malcolm Bruce asked whether there was “anything we should be doing to try and level off the world population” – a suggestion that, thankfully, Brown didn’t take up. And Labour’s John McFall accidentally addressed Brown as “Chancellor” several times, to the (eventual) amusement of both.

Select Cuts

Highlights from Parliament’s select committees

This is very much a test run of an idea of mine: to offer a round-up of what’s been going on in the various parliamentary select committees – subject entirely to my judgement of what’s significant. So:

The Commons Committee on Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills has a report on Biosecurity in UK research laboratories, arguing that “there is a striking lack of co-ordination between organisations who sponsor and run high containment laboratories” and that “The Government must ensure that dependable funding is provided to maintain such facilities safely.”

The Commons Public Accounts Committee has a report on Providing budget support for developing countries. It finds that providing budget support directly to developing-country government has led to mixed results in terms of capacity-building. “While there is evidence of better policy-making and planning, there is very little evidence of improved performance in key areas such as financial management.” It says that “DFID has not established the effectiveness of budget support relative to other types of aid” and warns: “The financial risks of putting UK funds through weak national systems are often high.”

The Commons Justice Committee is looking at the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (provisions relating to the Attorney General). It says that the draft bill “makes no substantial change to the current situation”, and believes that “transparency requires separating the political functions of the Attorney General from the legal functions”. It wants greater accountability for the AG and for the AG to be unable to stop Serious Fraud Office investigations. The Committee says that the draft bill “gives greater power to the Executive; and it does not add to transparency”. It also favours “a statutory duty being placed on ministers to observe the Rule of Law”.

The Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee reports on Renewable electricity-generation technologies, saying that “the Government’s targets for renewable electricity generation are wholly inadequate”; the Government must “remove current barriers to technology deployment, and develop a coherent policy framework to bring on the development of pre-commercial technologies”.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee has a report on The reorganisation of neonatal services as it affects “vulnerable babies” in England. The new networks “have made progress in reducing the number of times babies have to be transferred long distance to obtain the necessary level of care”, but the Committee cautions that there are capacity constraints and staffing problems.

So that’s what I have. It feels a wee bit thin; I’ve generally gone back about two weeks for material, and I’ve ignored published transcripts of witness sessions and Government responses to earlier committee reports. Possibly any of these selection criteria are worth rethinking – although, of course, if I extend the timespan then the round-ups will become less frequent. And possibly this is just not of enough interest to anyone for it to be worth doing.

(Thanks to Liam for research tips.)

Select committee round-ups

I’d hate to be an MP.

I’d hate knocking on strangers’ doors, asking them to give me a job. I’d hate doing constituency surgeries, dealing with the sometimes idiotic and sometimes tragic problems of a self-selecting sample of my many bosses. I’d hate the constant pressure to toe the party line. I’d hate the grandstanding in the Commons chamber. I’d hate the media interviews. I’d hate having to fend off the lobbying. I’d hate knowing that holding my job was based on my popularity among tens of thousands of people I’d mostly never met.

But I think I’d really like the select committee work, which is probably the least appreciated part of an MP’s job. They get to examine issues a lot more calmly and forensically there. Sure, there’s still partisan manoeuvring and petty egomania, but it seems a lot more subdued by the setting.

So, largely inspired by the Cassilis Think Tank Round-Up, I’m periodically going to post about interesting things to come out of the select committees of the Commons (and the Lords – they may be unelected, but some of them are quite bright, you know).

If this is already being done somewhere, I’d appreciate it if somebody could tell me. Would save a lot of time…

Now, ‘Select Committee Round-Up’, while a very Ronseal title, is a bit too close a rip-off of Cassilis for my pride to bear. So I reckon the feature should have some sort of punchy-yet-not-sickening name. Alas, ‘committee’ is the most tedious word in the English language.

I toyed with ‘Committee Selections’, ‘The Committee Stage’ and ‘In the Committee Room’ – all of which make me want to weep with shame and despair. So maybe something a bit more off-the-wall. I wondered about somehow cunningly adapting a relevant quote, such as Alec Issigonis’s “A camel looks like a horse that was planned by a committee”, Milton Berle’s “A committee is a group that keeps the minutes and loses hours” or GK Chesterton’s “I've searched all the parks in all the cities/And found no statues of committees”. I may even fancy ‘This Calls for Immediate Discussion!’ But who knows? Better ideas welcome.

First edition pretty soon.