Tag Archives: select committees

Callum Robertson

Who are our representatives on Select Committees in the new Parliament?

By Callum Robertson | Thu 31st October 2024 - 5:01 pm

This post updates our earlier one here.

The wonderful aspect of being a parliamentary party that is substantial in size is that we have had to have a set of internal appointments that matter greatly in terms of parliament and what our parliament prioritises over the next 5 years.

These appointments fit into two categories; select committee appointments, and front bench (spokesperson) appointments.

Now completed, the two sets of appointments will make a crucial difference to how we form a constructive opposition to the new government. You can view our spokesperson team here.

What are parliamentary committees?

Parliamentary Committees are committees with specific remits, challenged with the task of holding the government to account.

So who is who on the committees?

Committee on Standards

Remit: oversee the role of the Parliamentary Commissioner on Standards

  1. Anna Sabine

Committee on Privileges

Remit: to oversee parliamentary privilege. An example of their work was their investigation into the conduct of Boris Johnson

  1. Anna Sabine

Administration  Committee

Remit: how services provided to MPs and their staff work and how they are offered.

  1. Tessa Munt
  2. Max Wilkinson

Backbench Business Committee

Remit: deciding the business of the commons for roughly a day a week.

No Lib Dem nominations

Business and Trade Select Committee

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The Voice

Who are the Lib Dem MPs on Select Committees?

By The Voice | Sun 27th October 2024 - 1:29 pm

It always takes a while to set up a new Parliament’s infrastructure and with this week’s publication of Select Committee memberships, some of the 72 Liberal Democrat MPs now have another avenue to exert influence.

Select Committees are an important avenue for scrutiny of the Government by questioning and by holiding enquiries into specific areas of policy or performance.

Our status as third party gives us three Select Committee Chairs who have already been announced: Layla Moran at Health and Social Care, Alistair Carmichael at Environment and Rural Affairs and Jamie Stone on the Petitions Committee.

So which Committees will have Liberal Democrat representation? Here are the ones announced so far and we’ll update as more news comes out.

Welsh Affairs Committee: David Chadwick MP

Defence Committee: Ian Roome MP

Women and Equalities Committee: Alex Brewer MP

Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee: Lee Dillon MP

Business and Trade Committee: Joshua Reynolds MP

Home Affairs Committee: Ben Maguire MP, Paul Kohler MP

Public Accounts Committee: Rachel Gilmour MP

Culture, Media and Sport Committee: Liz Jarvis MP

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Mary Reid

Liberal Democrats to chair three Select Committees

By Mary Reid | Fri 2nd August 2024 - 4:48 pm

This is excellent news. Lib Dems in Westminster have been allocated the Chairs of three Select Committees – and two of them are on policy areas that are very close to our hearts. They are Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Health & Social Care (yay!) and Petitions. The final one may not sound exciting but it gives a direct view of the issues that concern voters.

The catch is that the party does not choose the Chairs for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs or for Health & Social Care – they are subject to a secret ballot of all MPs. That may sound a bit odd, but it ensures that each Chair gets a measure of cross-party support, which is so important for these committees to function effectively. Interestingly, the elections are by STV.

The Speaker has announced the timetable for these elections, which are extended this time because of the recess. Nominations will close on 9th September and the ballot will take place on 11th September.

Each nominee must collect signatures from at least 15 members of their own party, or 10% if lower, so that means at least 7 signatures for ours. They can also add signatures from members of other parties.

The Petitions Committee is a bit different, as it is dealing with procedure rather than policy. The Chair will be appointed rather than elected.

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Mark Valladares

7-9 November – this week in the Lords

By Mark Valladares | Mon 7th November 2022 - 11:31 am

A short week in Parliament, with the short November recess starting on Thursday, but there’s plenty of Liberal Democrat interest.

Monday starts with the usual oral questions, this time including a question from Shas Sheehan regarding Government steps, as President of COP26, to acknowledge and address greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries, in the light of recent flooding in Pakistan.

The Seafarers’ Wages Bill receives its Third Reading, with Ros Scott from our benches expected to pursue the issue of how the legislation sits with international agreements in the maritime sector. So far, there’s been little sense that the Government gets this, but given their persistent disregard for such things, it’s unlikely that they’ll change their mind at this stage. And there’s Day 4 of the Committee Stage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, with Jeremy Purvis, Alison Suttie, Sarah Ludford and Dee Doocey attempting to prevent a blatant power grab by the Government, allowing them to, effectively, rewrite the legisaltion as they go along.

In Grand Committee, the Electronic Trade Documents Bill has its Second Reading, with Chris Fox up for our benches.

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Mark Valladares

Liberal Democrat Committee appointments in the Lords spotlight the talent on our benches

By Mark Valladares | Sun 14th June 2015 - 11:22 am

Whilst the lack of women in prominent positions in the House of Commons has already drawn comment elsewhere on the site, in the Lords, the story is rather different, especially from a Liberal Democrat perspective. With nominations now confirmed for all but the sub-committees of the European Union Select Committee, our Leader in the Lords, Jim Wallace, and Chief Whip, Dick Newby, have drawn upon the array of talent within our Parliamentary Party – now 35% female – to reflect its new position as the legislative engine for scrutiny within the Party. So, who should we be watching out for over the next session? We’ll start with the four new Ad Hoc Committees, set up to look at particular topics.

The Equality Act 2010 and Disability Committee has been set up to consider the impact of the Act on people with disabilities, and Party President and wheelchair user, Sal Brinton, and Celia Thomas, a Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, will be representing us there.

The Built Environment Committee will look at the development and implementation of national policy for the built environment – think planning and infrastructure. Matthew Taylor, who led the 2012 review of government planning practice guidance, and Kate Parminter, a former Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, will be authoritative voices.

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Caron Lindsay

All-male shortlists for half of Commons Committees

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th June 2015 - 1:00 pm

Next Wednesday, MPs will choose who chairs their influential select committees. These are important, high profile positions as the Committees are there to carefully scrutinise the Government’s work. The more effectively they do their work, the better it is for our democracy. An effective chair will be able to work well with all their committee members from all parties and will be able to show capacity for tenacity and forensic attention to detail. Sadly, though, it looks as though the committees will not reflect diversity either in the Commons or society as a whole. You can find the whole list of people nominated here.

There are a few reasons to feel pretty gloomy at the selection on offer. The lack of any Liberal Democrat in the running anywhere is a predictable reflection of our decline in status. The calibre of some of the nominees and the fact that fewer than half of the Committees have had a woman even nominated for Chair shows that the Commons has not yet caught up with the modern world.

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Sir Robert Smith takes Yeo’s place as Energy and Climate Change Committee chair

By Stephen Tall | Tue 11th June 2013 - 11:15 am

sir Robert SmithSir Robert Smith, Lib Dem MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, has been named today as interim chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee following Tim Yeo’s decision to step down while allegations he used the role to help a private company influence Parliament are being investigated. Here’s the committee statement issued this morning:

The committee has unanimously accepted the chair’s recommendation that he absent himself from committee business for the duration of the investigation of the parliamentary commissioner for standards, following his self-referral at the weekend.

The committee

…

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Sara Bedford

Beith and Bruce confirmed as Select Committee chairs

By Sara Bedford | Tue 8th June 2010 - 8:05 pm

Liberal Democrat MPs Malcolm Bruce and Sir Alan Beith have been elected unopposed as Chairs of the International Development and Justice Select Committees respectively.  The positions were confirmed after nominations closed earlier tonight for all posts.

For the first time ever, Select Committees Chairs are being elected by a secret ballot of all MPs, after each Chairship was allocated to a political party in proportion to the number of MPs for each party. The committees allocated to each party were agreed by the House shortly before the Whitsun recess.

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