Departmental select committees

The House of Commons will debate a motion to approve the First Report of the Modernisation Select Committee for 2001-02, Select Committees, on 14 May 2002, along with a number of other motions relating to select committees. Part I of this paper provides background to the Committee’s proposals, concentrating in particular on reports of the Liaison Committee and outside bodies such as the Hansard Society and the Norton Commission. Part II of the paper gives brief historical background to the development of select committees and a review of the current system, including recent changes to standing orders. It also gives an evaluation of the select committee system. This paper does not analyse the

Motions, although they are included in the Appendix.

This paper has been superseded by Research Paper 09/55.