11.2b Parliament & Executive: Commitees

Question 1

Select committees

Answer 1

Departmental Select Committees scrutinise government department work and scrutinise ministers in detail through a longer style of questioning than in question time.

Nick Hurd, the Home Office Minister was questioned by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on the support that was being provided for people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

Question 2

Benefits of select committees

Answer 2

Select committees closely scrutinise individual government departments.

Select committees publish reports on issues which the government must respond to within 60 days.

The government published a response to a report calling for apprenticeship reforms by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Education committees.

Question 3

Criticism of select committees

Answer 3

Select committee scrutiny can be ineffective at holding the government to account when ministers are unhelpful in providing evidence when questioned.

In 2016 Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary at the time, was accused of “waffling” by the committee chair of the foreign affairs select committee during questioning.