What is a Select Committee in Parliament?

A Select Committee is a small, cross-party group of backbench MPs or peers appointed to examine a specific area of government activity, take evidence from ministers and outside witnesses, and report its findings to Parliament.

Select Committees are the main scrutiny machinery of Parliament outside the chamber. In the House of Commons, each government department has a corresponding departmental Select Committee. These include the Treasury Committee, Home Affairs Committee, Health and Social Care Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, Defence Committee, and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Alongside these sit the cross-cutting committees, the most famous of which is the Public Accounts Committee, founded in 1861, which examines whether government money has been spent properly and effectively. The Liaison Committee, made up of all the Select Committee chairs, is the only parliamentary body that regularly questions the Prime Minister on policy.

Select Committees typically have between 11 and 14 members, chosen to reflect the party balance of the Commons. Since the Wright Reforms of 2010, the chairs of most Commons committees are elected by the whole House in a secret ballot, and the backbench members are elected within their own party. This was a major break from the pre-2010 system in which the party whips effectively chose who served. Committee chairs are paid an additional salary and have become significant figures in their own right.

Each committee sets its own programme of inquiries. Hearings are usually held in public and broadcast on parliamentlive.tv. Committees have the formal power to "send for persons, papers, and records", which means they can compel witnesses to attend and documents to be produced. Witnesses are expected to tell the truth, and ministers appear regularly. Reports are published with specific recommendations, and the government is required to respond in writing within two months.

The House of Lords has its own Select Committees, focused on broad themes rather than departments, including the Economic Affairs Committee, Science and Technology Committee, Communications and Digital Committee, and European Affairs Committee. Joint Committees drawn from both Houses examine bills and topics of shared interest, such as the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

Select Committee reports often shape government policy, uncover failings, and inform public debate. Recent inquiries into banking standards, phone hacking, contaminated blood, and the response to the Covid-19 pandemic have produced findings that drove major reforms.