Follow a series of work on schools funding and financial sustainability and on the end of the PFI contracts that were involved in the development of many Academies the Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Education and  Education and Skills Funding Agency on financial transparency and accountability in the Academies sector.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Monday 17 January 2022.

This inquiry will examine the Government’s policies for securing energy supplies and accelerating the transition from fossil fuels.

The Education Committee holds regular hearings with the Secretary of State for Education and other key figures directly accountable to Parliament. This forms part of the Committee’s ongoing scrutiny of the Department for Education and its associated public bodies.

In March 2021 the Committee warned that Government has “no plan” for achieving Net Zero, two years after setting target in law.

With the major international COP 26 climate conference hosted by the UK fast approaching, PAC will question senior officials at DBEIS and HM Treasury on how the UK is now going to map out and lead the way on the path to Net Zero by 2050.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Thursday 21 October 2021.

The Committee has launched an inquiry to examine the UK Government’s proposals to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. On 18 March, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, outlined the Government’s new approach to addressing the legacy of the past in a written statement to the House of Commons. The statement also set out that these would include some “significant” changes from the Stormont House Agreement. The inquiry will examine whether the Government’s proposals deliver for victims, survivors and their families.

Terms of reference

The Committee is particularly interested in receiving written evidence that addresses:

• Whether the Government’s proposed approach will meet the needs of victims, survivors and their families;

• What steps the Government can take to ensure that the proposed new legacy body is independent, balanced and open, and complies with the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and ECHR commitments;

• The differences between the Government’s new proposals and the draft Stormont House Agreement Bill;

• Whether and how the Government’s proposals will promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland;

• The potential merits of consolidating the bodies envisaged in the Stormont House Agreement into a single organisation;

• The equity of the Government’s proposed approach to the re-investigation of cases;

• What legislative steps the Government can take to address what have been described as vexatious claims against veterans.

Report published

We have now published our Report and found that the UK Government failed to work effectively or quickly enough to provide support for aid workers and the Afghan people, says a new report from the International Development Committee - Afghanistan: UK support for aid workers and the Afghan people.

Furthermore, the Committee is concerned about the pace at which the UK Government has disbursed pledged UK aid to Afghanistan and whether it will act swiftly enough to disburse pledged UK aid to Ukraine.

• Read the Report Summary
• Read the full Report

The Government has frequently stated that the UK will not compromise on high standards of food safety and animal welfare in future trade agreements.

As new international agreements are negotiated, the production standards for imported food are to come under Parliamentary scrutiny. The EFRA Select Committee is to take evidence from senior representatives from the agriculture, animal welfare and trade sectors. Areas likely to be considered include consideration of production standards under the WTO and GATT, the extent to which international standards currently compare to the UK's, the efficacy of tariffs, the impact on food security, and the impact of policy changes on both farmers and consumers.  

This inquiry will be examining airlines’ and airports’ recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The sessions will also examine the effects of the Government’s policy on international travel, including the system for international travel and travel requirements such as PCR testing. 

This inquiry will consider:

• Airlines’ and airports’ recovery from the effects of the pandemic
• The Government’s system for international travel
• Barriers to the reopening of international travel
• The cost and necessity of PCR testing

Read the call for evidence for more detail about this inquiry.

The Committee will be inquiring into airports in Scotland. The focus will be:

• the impacts of coronavirus and how this has been managed;
• how the local community is affected by the airport - including through tourism, access to work, and emergency services; and
• environmental concerns within the footprint of the airport.

The Committee would like to hear from people who are involved with, work in or live near any airport in Scotland. This includes the main commercial airports, airports owned by the Highlands and Islands enterprise, and local authority airports. 

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry

The Environmental Audit Committee is to examine how HM Treasury could incorporate environmental sustainability into its leading measures of the UK’s economic success.

The Committee is undertaking a wide-ranging inquiry into the rules for and regulation of All-Party Parliamentary Groups.

The inquiry will examine different forms of inequality that have emerged or that may have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, and what HM Treasury can do to mitigate them. The inquiry will focus on disability, gender, race, regional imbalances, and intergenerational inequality, including housing.

“Animal sentience” is the capability of an animal to perceive or feel things. Animal sentience is enshrined in European law but this was not retained in domestic law before the Transition Period ended on 1 January 2021, following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

On 13 May, the Government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill received its First Reading in the House of Lords. If passed, the Bill will apply to vertebrate animals (except humans) and establish an Animal Sentience Committee (ASC).

This inquiry will consider the proposed ASC, and ask whether it will ensure that animal sentience is properly taken into account in both new and existing Government policy in England. The inquiry will also examine whether there are sufficient safeguards to ensure that the proposed ASC will be independent, and have the necessary expertise and powers to be effective. The inquiry will look at whether the requirement for the Government to respond to a report of the ASC will be sufficient, and how the proposed ASC compares to similar bodies elsewhere. The inquiry will also ask if the Government is correct to limit the scope of the Bill to vertebrate animals.

As part of its Animal Welfare Action Plan the Government has proposed a new Animals Abroad Bill to tackle animal cruelty, and support conservation efforts, overseas. The Bill will include bans on the trade in hunting trophies that threaten the conservation status of species abroad, and the domestic sale and advertising of experiences overseas, like elephant rides, that are cruel to animals.

This inquiry scrutinises both aspects of the proposed Bill, considering the most effective way to promote animal welfare by removing UK involvement from cruel practices in other countries.

The Committee is revisiting its inquiry in the last Parliament into the provision of mental health care for the Armed Forces and veterans to see what progress has been made on its recommendations and how the system has responded to the pandemic.

The recent MoD Integrated Review reconfirmed that armoured vehicles remain a major part of the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD’s) land capability, being used to provide firepower, mobility and protection for service personnel and undertake reconnaissance.

The MOD is seeking to modernise and upgrade its armoured vehicles and the Ajax family of armoured reconnaissance fighting vehicles is a central component of MOD’s plans, but both the Defence Committee and PAC have expressed serious concerns about progress with the £5 billion Ajax programme. 

The PAC will question senior officials at MOD on their management of the Ajax programme and progress against cost, time, and performance milestones including:

• arrangements for managing the Ajax programme, including strategic oversight and governance;  
• progress since 2010 on the Ajax programme; and   
• current plans to deliver the Ajax programme, including contractual arrangements and resourcing. 

If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by Wednesday 23 March 2022.

The Liaison Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to follow-up on the recommendations of the Artificial Intelligence Select Committee. The report of the Committee and the government response can be found on the former Committee’s webpage.

The Government published the text of its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Australia on 16 December 2021. The followed the publication of the agreement in principle in June 2021. 

The UK-Australia FTA is the first new trade deal negotiated “from scratch”/ that the UK Government will have signed since leaving the EU.  The Government has said that it will “boost the economy by £2.3 billion and add £900 million to household wages in the long-run” and has described it as a “gateway” to the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). 

The EFRA Committee’s inquiry will examine the impact that this agreement will have on farmers, as well as food and drink producers and retailers, whether the deal aligns with the UK’s commitment to high animal welfare and environmental practices, and its implication for future trade deals.  

Link to the call for evidence

The International Trade Committee is holding an inquiry into the entirety of the UK-Australia FTA - find more information about their inquiry here.

An inquiry to scrutinise the Government’s 2021 Autumn Budget announcements, its Spending Review, and the Economic and Fiscal Outlook produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The Committee has decided to inquire into aviation procurement across the Armed Forces and will undertake two distinct but connected inquiries. The first will focus on the strategic context, existing contracts and capabilities, and the impact of planned reductions to the fleet, and will consider in particular:

Will the proposals set out in the Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper deliver the aviation capabilities (fixed-wing and rotary), combat mass and interoperability required of UK Armed Forces, particularly in light of the changed security situation in Europe?  

What is the rationale behind, and what are the implications of, planned reductions to the existing fleet, including:

• Combat air, with the early retirement of Tranche 1 Typhoons and the apparent scaling-back of commitments to purchase additional F35-B fighter aircraft.

• Fleet mobility, with regard to the early retirement of the C-130J Hercules, and the removal of the Puma and older Chinook helicopters from service.

• Airborne early warning and control, with the early retirement of the E-3D Sentry and the decision to reduce the number of E – 7A Wedgetails entering service from 5 to 3.

Will the uplifted contracts for both rotary and fixed wing Military Flying Training effectively and rapidly resolve capacity issues?

Written evidence on the above issues is now invited and should be submitted by Friday 6 May 2022.

A follow-on inquiry will examine proposals for future capabilities, including the Future Combat Air System and new medium-lift helicopter. It will consider whether the MoD has the requisite structures and expertise to robustly manage these significant investment programmes, and how it should seek to support a sustainable and thriving domestic aviation sector. Further details, including arrangements for submitting evidence on these topics, will be published at a later date.

The Committee takes evidence from the Governor of the Bank of England and other members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee to scrutinise the Bank's quarterly Monetary Policy Reports.

In 2017, the BBC began a programme designed to deliver efficiencies of £800 million a year by 2021-22. In 2020, it increased this target to £1 billion due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By 2019-20, the BBC had delivered annual efficiencies of £618 million, with almost 80% of these coming from three of its six divisions. It still had to deliver £400 million more efficiencies by 2021-22, mostly from its more customer-facing divisions – Content (£235 million), Nations & Regions (£47 million), and News (£46 million).

The Committee will question the BBC Director General and senior executives on the Corporation’s progress in hitting its savings targets; the impact of its savings upon its content and news coverage; and how well it is preparing to deliver further savings.

If you have any evidence on these issues please submit it here by Wednesday 19 January 2022.

This inquiry will consider how the BBC should be funded in future to deliver what is needed from a national public service broadcaster.

Gareth Davies, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of the National Audit Office, has qualified his audit opinion on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 2020-21 accounts because of the material levels of fraud and error in COVID-19 business support scheme expenditure.

The Committee will question senior officials at BEIS on

• the reasons and context for the qualified audit opinion in relation to fraud and error in the COVID-19 business loan scheme guarantees and COVID-19 business support grants; and
• the Department’s current estimates of the level of fraud and error in these loan and grant schemes, including the levels of uncertainty in these estimates.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Wednesday 16 February 2022 18:00.

This inquiry will consider the impact that non-tariff barriers may have on future UK-EU trade in manufactured goods and how any adverse effects could be minimised, particularly through the UK-EU trade agreement.

1. The Environmental Audit Committee is launching a new inquiry into biodiversity and ecosystems. The inquiry will examine how best to protect and enhance biodiversity whilst considering nature-based solutions to climate change (ctions that protect, manage and restore natural and modified ecosystems to address societal challenges and enhance human wellbeing[1]) and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
2. The inquiry will review the UK Government’s performance on achieving international and domestic targets in preparation for the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is now due to be held in autumn 2021 in Kunming, China.
3. Concerns about a mass extinction crisis began in the 1980s[2], but biodiversity is continuing to decline faster now than at any time in human history.[3] The UK has seen a 13% decline in average species’ abundance and 15% of species within the UK are threatened with extinction.[4] The UK’s Overseas Territories are home to 94% of British endemic species.[5]
4. Ecosystems are critical in providing food, energy, medicines, sustaining air, water and soil quality and being the sole sinks for anthropogenic carbon emissions. These provisions are vital for human existence and good quality of life, however 14 of the 18 categories of ‘contributions of nature’ assessed in the IPBES Global Assessment Report have declined since 1970.[6]
5. The main pressures on nature in the UK are climate change, urbanisation, pollution, hydrological change, invasive non-native species and aspects of agricultural and woodland management.[7]
6. The costs of biodiversity loss are being evaluated within the up-coming Review of the Economics of Biodiversity: the Dasgputa Review, commissioned by the HM Treasury.[8] Incorporating the multiple values of ecosystem functions into economic incentives can result in better ecological, economic and social outcomes, if set at a level that conservation of ecosystems can compete with the production of commodities such as cattle, crops and timber.[9] However, nature also has intrinsicvalue and its non-material benefits must be recognised.
7. 2020 was named “the super year for nature” by the UN Environmental Programme because of the range of conferences covering climate change and biodiversity that were scheduled to take place this year. When these conferences will go ahead is now uncertain given the COVID-19 pandemic. However, 2020 remains a crucial year to link climate strategies with promoting sustainable development and tackling biodiversity loss.
8. The UK has commitments under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to promote sustainable use of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and to halt biodiversity loss (Goal 14 ‘Life below water’ and Goal 15 ‘Life on land’). The UK is also a signatory to the 2010 Aichi Biodiversity Targets which committed the UK to at least halving the rate of loss of natural habitat and preventing the extinction of all known threatened species by 2020.
9. In addition, the UK has its own domestic targets set out in the 25 Year Environmental Plan. New landmark environmental legislation is set to deliver important conservation mechanisms. The Agriculture bill commits to establishing an Environmental Land Management scheme and the Environment Bill provides for the creation of a new biodiversity net gain requirement for developments. The Environment Bill also commits to creating or restoring 500,000 hectares of wildlife habitat as part of a Nature Recovery Network. This will require active participation from local authorities.

[1] IUCN [accessed May 2020] Nature-based solutions

[2] Wilson (1988) Biodiversity. National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC

[3] IPBES (2019): Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

[4] Hayhow et al., (2019): The State of Nature 2019. The State of Nature partnership.

[5] Churchyard et al., (2014): The UK’s wildlife overseas: a stocktake of nature in our Overseas Territories. RSPB

[6] IPBES (2019): Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

[7]  Hayhow et al., (2019): The State of Nature 2019. The State of Nature partnership. Pg. 10

[8] UK Government (2019): The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review

[9]  IPBES (2019): Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

In December 2020 the Committee published its first report on the “Bounce Back Loan” Scheme offered to registered - and unregistered - small businesses to help them get through and recover from Government-mandated closures and loss of business revenues during lockdown.

At that time the PAC concluded that billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was at risk due to fraud in the 100% guaranteed loans, where even the most basic checks and assurances had been dropped in the name of getting the loans out quickly.

The Committee has since reported several times on failures in the Government’s balancing of risk and expedience across many of its Covid support schemes, but the National Audit Office has described the BBLS as “government’s largest and most risky business loan support scheme”. Official calculations and estimates of how much will be lost to fraud and default in the BBLS are ongoing.

In this follow up inquiry, the Committee will question senior officials at BEIS and the Treasury on what government is doing to protect public money in relation to the Scheme; how many loans were made by the time the Scheme closed; how many businesses have begun repaying loans; the counter-fraud activity taking place, and the levels of identified fraud; and the latest Scheme estimates of potential fraud and credit losses.

If you have evidence on any of these issues, please submit it here by Monday 3rd January 2022

Five years on from the Petitions Committee’s report on funding for research into brain tumours in 2016, this inquiry will seek to assess progress against the Committee’s recommendations. It will consider changes in the brain tumour research environment since the Committee last took evidence on the topic in 2019, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also follow up on points raised in the December 2020 debate on e-petition 300027, exploring key barriers to progress for childhood brain tumours and other childhood cancers with the worst survival outcomes, such as DIPG.

The Northern Ireland Protocol comes into force from 1 January 2021. The Protocol is a solution designed to reconcile the UK’s decision to leave the EU with the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland. It reflects the specific challenges Brexit poses for Northern Ireland, due to its land border with the Republic of Ireland (an EU Member State) and its position as part of both the UK and the island of Ireland.

The Protocol is a significant change for Northern Ireland. On 1 January 2021, the UK will cease to apply EU laws, but under the Protocol some EU laws will continue to apply in Northern Ireland. The Protocol therefore creates new areas of legal divergence between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK. The Protocol also creates entirely new mechanisms, such as the requirement that Northern Ireland must periodically renew its consent to parts of the Protocol. The Protocol will therefore form an important part of Northern Ireland’s legal and constitutional architecture.

The Committee has launched an inquiry on the Northern Ireland Protocol to scrutinise the Protocol’s implementation and to examine its consequences for government, people and businesses.

Terms of reference

The Committee would welcome the submission of evidence that addresses:

• the preparedness of government, public services and businesses for the Protocol taking effect on 1 January 2021;

• the implications of the Protocol for intra-UK Government and public service co-operation, and for intra-UK trade;

• the implications of the Protocol for intergovernmental and public service co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and for trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland;

• the implications of the Protocol for citizens’ rights and access to public services on the island of Ireland;

• the implications of the Protocol for the Northern Ireland economy and for investment in Northern Ireland;

• the implications of the Protocol for devolution, including:
  • Northern Ireland’s position in the UK internal market;
  • Northern Ireland’s ability to benefit from the UK’s post-Brexit trade policy; and
  • how the Protocol interacts with the UK’s new system of common policy frameworks;

• the implications of new legislation on the operation of the Protocol;

• the interaction between the Protocol and the future relationship between the UK and the EU;

• how the Protocol can be implemented effectively, including in a scenario where no UK-EU future relationship is agreed;

• potential mechanisms to facilitate parliamentary scrutiny of the operation of the Protocol, including:
  • scrutiny of any new UK or EU laws that would create divergence between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK after the end of the transition period; and
  • scrutiny of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee and its specialised committees.

The European Scrutiny Committee is considering the Government’s plans for the operation of the Channel Tunnel Fixed Link after the end of the Transition Period (as established by the UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement). The EU argues that EU law should continue to apply on the UK side of the Tunnel at the end of the Transition Period and that it should be overseen by the EU Court of Justice. In November 2020, the EU adopted legislation that permitted France to negotiate an agreement with the UK—on the future operation of the Tunnel—subject to the inclusion of these and other related conditions. The Government has repeatedly rejected the EU’s position and has stated in correspondence with the Committee that it favours an agreement that is compatible with “the UK’s status as a sovereign nation”. The Committee’s inquiry will consider the need for an agreement on the future operation of the Channel Tunnel, the EU’s position, the alternative arrangements suggested by the Government, and the potential implications of changes in the governance of the Tunnel for affected stakeholders.

For further information see: European Scrutiny Committee – Twenty-first Report (2019-21) HC 229-xvii, Chapter 5 (16 September 2020); Twenty-third Report (2019-21) HC 229-xix, Chapter 4 (1 October 2020); and Twenty-ninth Report (2019-21) HC 229-xxv, Chapter 2 (19 November 2020)

When the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) was restructured in 2017, its members were given a set of options for what to do with their pension “pot”, including transferring their funds out of the pension scheme altogether.

Around 7,700 members, many of whom received independent financial advice to inform their decision, chose to take this option, representing about £2.8 billion of funds.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates independent financial advisors, has identified that many steelworkers received unsuitable advice, and may have made poor financial choices and lost significant sums of money as a result. It has encouraged them to revisit the advice they received and complain if they have concerns.

The Committee will question the chief executives of the Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Ombudsmen Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme on the activities the FCA has undertaken to regulate financial advice in the BSPS case, its plans for supporting steelworkers who may be entitled to redress, and the extent to which compensation is being delivered.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6pm on Wednesday 20 April 2022.

The purpose of this inquiry is to examine the effectiveness and impact of the Government’s planned measures to make developers and industry cover the costs of remediation, to scrutinise whether the Secretary of State’s approach goes far enough to finally fix this crisis, and to examine what the funding arrangement to be agreed with industry should look like.

Due to the fast-moving nature of this policy area, the Committee would welcome early submissions of written evidence. The Committee aims to start taking oral evidence shortly.

Ahead of an evidence session on business preparedness for Brexit (on Tuesday 8 December), the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has issued a call for evidence submissions.  

This inquiry will ask why cancer outcomes in England continue to lag behind comparable countries internationally and examine evidence relating to the underlying causes of these differences.

We will also consider what impact disruption to cancer services during the covid-19 pandemic will have on efforts to catch up, and ask whether the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan will help close the gap with the best performing countries worldwide.

The Environmental Audit Committee is launching an inquiry into carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM). The inquiry is looking at the role CBAM could play in addressing potential carbon leakage and meeting the UK’s environmental objectives. The inquiry is also considering the wider impacts, risks and opportunities which might arise if the UK Government were to introduce its own, i.e. unilateral, CBAM.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.

The Environmental Audit Committee is launching an inquiry into carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs). The inquiry is looking at the role a CBAM could play in addressing potential carbon leakage and meeting the UK’s environmental objectives. The inquiry is also considering the wider impacts, risks and opportunities which might arise if the UK Government were to introduce its own, i.e. unilateral, CBAM.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.

The Education Committee is holding an inquiry on the effectiveness of the careers advice given to students.

The inquiry will be a root and branch review of how well the current system for careers education, information, advice and guidance is working (CEIAG).

It will have a particular focus on CEIAG for young people and children, exploring whether current careers advice provides sufficient guidance about career choice, employment, training, and further and higher education opportunities to young people.

It will also look at how arrangements for CEIAG could better support disadvantaged or left-behind groups to access career opportunities that may otherwise not be available to them.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry. You can submit evidence until 23:59 on Thursday 17 March 2022.

The Education Committee is holding an inquiry on the effectiveness of the careers advice given to students.

The inquiry will be a root and branch review of how well the current system for careers education, information, advice and guidance is working (CEIAG).

It will have a particular focus on CEIAG for young people and children, exploring whether current careers advice provides sufficient guidance about career choice, employment, training, and further and higher education opportunities to young people.

It will also look at how arrangements for CEIAG could better support disadvantaged or left-behind groups to access career opportunities that may otherwise not be available to them.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry. You can submit evidence until 23:59 on Thursday 17 March 2022.

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee is launching an inquiry on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

HM Treasury and the Bank of England are exploring the potential of a possible CBDC for the UK. The Committee will take evidence on the main issues confronting HM Treasury and the Bank as they conduct this work. It will also examine how a CBDC might affect the role of the Bank, monetary policy and the financial sector

You can read the Inquiry’s call for evidence here

Government plans to transform public services are increasingly led by digitally-enabled business change, and it is essential that public bodies deliver high quality digital services in a time when our way of life is increasingly digital.

But a recent NAO report found that in “25 years of government strategies and countless attempts to deliver digital business change successfully, there is a consistent pattern of underperformance. This underperformance is often the result of decision makers fixing on technology solutions before fundamental aspects of projects and programmes are sufficiently thought through.”

The NAO found that “only a small proportion of senior officials in government have first-hand experience of digital business change”, and that “many of the problems that occur in large digital operational change programmes stem from senior decision-makers’ inability to understand the issues and make the decisions required to implement digital change in an effective way”.

The NAO concluded that current pressures on public finances mean there is an urgent need for those designing and delivering digital business change programmes to learn from past mistakes.

The Committee will question senior officials at the Cabinet Office, Government Digital Service and HMRC on the capacity and capability of senior decision-makers in the public sector to deliver digital business change.

If you have evidence on these questions, please submit it here by 6pm on Monday 20 September 2021.

This inquiry will examine the reasons behind the growth in migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. It will look at the role of criminal gangs in facilitating the growth of this form of illegal immigration and the response of UK and French authorities to combat illegal migration and support legal routes to asylum.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS)  - set up in 2012 to replace the previous Child Support Agency - is for separated families who have not been able to reach a private arrangement about how their children’s living costs will be paid.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that £934 million of statutory child maintenance was paid between parents using the CMS in 2019-20, at a net cost of £146 million.

Billions of pounds of unpaid child maintenance debt that remained from the previous CSA schemes has been written off, and in June 2021 the House of Commons Library showed that unpaid child support under the replacement CMS now stood at £421.5 million.  

The Committee will question senior officials at DWP on the value for money of the child maintenance system, including:

• whether the Department effectively managed the wind-down of the previous CSA schemes;
• whether the CMS is achieving its objectives; and
• whether the Department manages its resources effectively to deliver a high-quality service through the CMS.

If you have new evidence on these issues please submit it here by Wednesday 9 March 2022 18:00.

Please note that the Committee cannot investigate or take up any individual cases or claims – evidence submitted will be considered to inform questioning to the DWP and the inquiry’s conclusions.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS)  - set up in 2012 to replace the previous Child Support Agency - is for separated families who have not been able to reach a private arrangement about how their children’s living costs will be paid.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that £934 million of statutory child maintenance was paid between parents using the CMS in 2019-20, at a net cost of £146 million.

Billions of pounds of unpaid child maintenance debt that remained from the previous CSA schemes has been written off, and in June 2021 the House of Commons Library showed that unpaid child support under the replacement CMS now stood at £421.5 million.  

The Committee will question senior officials at DWP on the value for money of the child maintenance system, including:

• whether the Department effectively managed the wind-down of the previous CSA schemes;
• whether the CMS is achieving its objectives; and
• whether the Department manages its resources effectively to deliver a high-quality service through the CMS.

If you have new evidence on these issues please submit it here by Wednesday 9 March 2022 18:00.

Please note that the Committee cannot investigate or take up any individual cases or claims – evidence submitted will be considered to inform questioning to the DWP and the inquiry’s conclusions.

The Committee is undertaking an inquiry into Children and Young People’s Mental Health. The inquiry will examine the progress that has been made by Government against their own ambitions to improve children and young people’s mental health provision.

We will also consider whether the system should be reformed toward a more holistic approach that prioritises early intervention and prevention as well as crisis care and explore how to tackle worrying trends in self-harm and suicide.

Children in poverty: No recourse to public funds

This inquiry is looking at children in poverty. This is a complex subject, so the Committee’s work will be in several parts.

For the second part of the inquiry, we are looking  at  the experiences of children who have no recourse to public funds.

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry

The inquiry will focus on children’s homes.

It will examine a number of areas including educational outcomes and destinations, the quality of support provided by children’s homes, unregulated provision, rates of criminalisation, the sufficiency of children’s home places, and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Defence Committee is holding a one-off evidence session, to examine China’s military capabilities and how the military fits into to its wider international ambitions, both in the Asia-Pacific and globally. The Committee will explore China’s military activities across the globe as well as consider the implications of party-led initiatives such as One Belt One Road or Made in China 2025 and of Military-Civil fusion for China’s military, China’s defence industrial sector and efforts to modernise and expand its nuclear deterrent.

The Liaison Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to follow-up on the recommendations of the Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee. The report of the Committee and the government response can be found on the former Committee’s https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/citizenship-civic-engagement.

In 2020 the Liaison Committee wrote to the Secretary of State at the then Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government undertaking initial follow-up. The letter from the Senior Deputy Speaker as well as the reply from the Government can be found on the Liaison Committee's former https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/187/liaison-committee-lords/publications.

The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement gives the people of Northern Ireland the right to identify themselves as British, Irish or both, and the right to hold both British and Irish citizenship. This inquiry examines specific issues that have arisen related to citizenship and passport processes in Northern Ireland.

Read the inquiry launch and terms of reference

The European Affairs Committee is holding a short inquiry into Citizens’ Rights issues, covering both UK nationals living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK. The inquiry takes place in the context of the forthcoming deadline for the UK’s EU Settlement Scheme and equivalent deadlines in certain EU member states, and will focus in particular on the issues faced by vulnerable groups on both sides of the Channel.

Following the Secretary of State’s announcement on 10 February of additional funding for cladding remediation, the Committee will take evidence from MHCLG, the UK Cladding Action Group, LGA and others. We will look at how this support will be allocated, and the steps that will be taken to ensure that leaseholders and tenants are protected from bearing the costs of historical building safety defects.

The Committee has launched a new inquiry to quantify the level of pent-up demand for key healthcare services; and to consider whether fundamental changes to the organisation and delivery of NHS services will be required to manage the backlog of cases caused by the pandemic.

MPs will examine levels of funding, capacity, organisation and leadership for addressing the current backlog for non-covid health services, and concerns that these issues are likely to continue in the longer-term. There will be a focus on elective surgery, emergency care, General Practice, mental health, and long-covid.

The Committee on Standards has announced that it will carry out a comprehensive and far-reaching inquiry into the operation of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament. It will do this in liaison with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who will carry out an independent review of the Code. The Committee’s inquiry will include a series of public oral evidence sessions, to be held in autumn 2020. This will be the first stage in a multi-stage process of preparing a new text of the Code, and the associated Guide to the Rules, for approval by the House.

The Committee on Standards is carrying out a comprehensive and far-reaching inquiry into the operation of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament. The Committee published its initial report  (incorporating the Commissioner’s own review of the Code) with proposals for public consultation on 29 November 2021. This consultation is the second stage in a multi-stage process of preparing a new text of the Code, and the associated Guide to the Rules, for approval by the House. The Committee invites written responses to the consultation by 12.00 on 20 January 2022.

The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee is launching an inquiry into the regulation of the London Market – the UK’s commercial insurance and reinsurance market. The Committee will explore the extent to which regulatory policy is well-designed and proportionately applied and the possibilities for optimising policy following Brexit. The inquiry will consider the roles of the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority and the appropriateness of regulation – the content of regulations as well as their implementation and application by regulators – relative to the risks posed by the London Market. The Committee will also assess the effects of regulation on customer interests and the market’s global competitiveness.

The Liaison Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to follow-up on the recommendations of the Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee. The report of the Committee and the government response can be found on the former Committee’s https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/citizenship-civic-engagement.

In 2020 the Liaison Committee wrote to the Secretary of State at the then Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government undertaking initial follow-up. The letter from the Senior Deputy Speaker as well as the reply from the Government can be found on the Liaison Committee's former https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/187/liaison-committee-lords/publications.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a trade agreement between 11 countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam). The Government has expressed its intention to pursue accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as a key part of its trade negotiations programme.

This inquiry will focus on the Government’s aims and objectives, the progress of negotiations, and the possible impacts of a final deal for people and businesses across the UK. It is not yet known when the talks will conclude, but this inquiry will run for the duration of those talks.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a trade agreement between 11 countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam). The Government has expressed its intention to pursue accession to CPTPP as a key part of its trade negotiations programme.

This inquiry will focus on the Government’s aims and objectives, the progress of negotiations, and the possible impacts of a final deal for people and businesses across the UK. The Committee will be looking at the impacts of a potential deal on the agriculture and food sectors, regulations and standards, professional services, digital trade, investment, intellectual property, and on UK policy objectives to combat global climate change and promote sustainability. It is not yet known when the talks will conclude, but this inquiry will run for the duration of those talks. .

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Government’s measures to respond to it have significant constitutional implications, as well as health, social and economic ones. These include:

• The ability of Parliament to hold the Government to account 
• Scrutiny of emergency powers
• The operation of the courts 

The Constitution Committee is considering these issues and exploring questions such as:

• What can Parliament do to maximise its scrutiny of the emergency regulations and to hold the Government to account effectively during lockdown? How are adjustments to procedures and processes working in the House of Lords?
• What emergency powers has the Government sought during the pandemic and what powers has it used and how? What lessons are there for future uses of emergency powers, their safeguards and the processes for scrutinising them?
• How is the court system operating during the pandemic? What has been the impact of virtual proceedings on access to justice, participation in proceedings, transparency and media reporting?

The Committee has so far published calls for written evidence for the courts and the Parliament strands of the inquiry and is taking oral evidence from experts, stakeholders, ministers and others.

COP15 is the fifteenth meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, due to take place in China in October 2021. This inquiry will explore what it needs to achieve and what the Government is doing to support its success.

Background

1. 2021 is an important year for the UK’s international policies on climate change and trade. In November, the UK will host the 26th annual summit of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). This aims to accelerate progress towards meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement: in particular, limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius) relative to pre-industrial levels. Additionally, the UK holds the G7 Presidency, for which the tackling of climate change and biodiversity loss is a key priority. The UK has also announced its ambition to promote free and fair trade around the world. 

2. The Government has identified opportunities to use international trade and investment to further environmental goals. For instance, the Government is working at the World Trade Organization to promote ‘green trade’, with a view to liberalising environmental goods and services, mitigating carbon emissions, setting standards and supporting a circular economy. At the same time, there is evidence that the future impacts of climate change may affect international trade and investment, for instance, disrupting infrastructure/transport routes and bringing about new patterns of trade and production.5    

3. Against this backdrop, the International Trade Committee (ITC) has decided to consider how international trade and investment features within the COP26 agenda, and how the Government’s trade and investment priorities align with those of COP26.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 was passed at pace at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Act has been subject to renewal at six-monthly intervals since its entry into force.

After two years on the statute books, its provisions are set to expire automatically at the end of March 2022, unless the Government chooses to extend them.

This inquiry will examine the extension process itself and the evidence that the Government should produce to justify such an extension.

The Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee are holding a joint inquiry into lessons to be learned from the response to the coronavirus pandemic so far.

The two Select Committees will jointly conduct evidence sessions examining the impact and effectiveness of action taken by government and the advice it has received. Each Committee will draw on specialist expertise and call witnesses to consider a range of issues including:   

• the deployment of non-pharmaceutical interventions like lockdown and social distancing rules to manage the pandemic;   

• the impact on the social care sector;   

• the impact on BAME communities;   

• testing and contact tracing;   

• modelling and the use of statistics;   

• Government communications and public health messaging;   

• the UK’s prior preparedness for a pandemic; and   

• the development of treatments and vaccines.   

This inquiry will lookinto council tax collection in England, examining the practices employed by local authorities to collect council tax arrears.

The inquiry will also look at other issues including whether there should be changes to the legislation on the recovery of council tax arrears, and how local authority council tax support schemes affect council tax collection rates.

The Commons Justice Committee has published a report on the significant crisis in delays to court cases – and therefore justice - caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The report is Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on courts.

The Committee has also announced an inquiry into how these delays could be addressed. It will review the practical experience of delays in the courts for lawyers, witnesses, victims and defendants. It will investigate whether the increase of 4,500 court sitting days will be sufficient to clear the backlog of cases and what long term solutions to the delays, including digital hearings, may be possible.

The deadline for written submissions is 7 September. The first oral evidence session is expected to be in late September.

This inquiry will examine the way in which the government has created these new offences, how the criminal law has been adapted to deal with the pandemic, and how covid-19 offences have been enforced, applied and reviewed by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts.

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry.

The Committee will question senior Treasury officials on the latest figures for the total cost of the UK national response to the Covid-19 pandemic so far, and how this impacts and interacts with the much-anticipated cross-Government Spending Review, with the Autumn Budget to be delivered on October 27 .

If you have evidence on the accumulating costs of spending on the pandemic response - £370 billion in departmental spending and the value of loans guaranteed by Government or the Bank of England now running at £129 billion - or on the balance of spending decisions outlined in the Review and Budget 2021, please submit it here by Wednesday 10 November.

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) is examining critical national infrastructure (CNI) and climate adaptation. The inquiry is considering the resilience of UK CNI to the effects of climate change, which is predicted to result in an increase in extreme weather events such as flooding, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves, as well as rising sea levels.

Read the call for evidence for further details about this inquiry.

In January 2021 the Committee reported that problems with the rollout of superfast broadband across the UK meant that digital inequality risks compounding the economic inequality “harshly” exposed by the pandemic.

In this inquiry the Committee will recall DCMS officials for an update on progress towards the Government’s revised timeline for rolling out broadband and improving digital inclusion for people and business across the country, especially in hard-to-reach rural areas, and progress against the Committee’s report recommendations.

If you have evidence on the national programme to roll out broadband that could inform the Committee’s questioning, please submit it here by Monday 1 November 2021. 

The International Development Committee is launching an inquiry into debt relief in low-income countries, examining the impact of high levels of debt on development and the tools and strategies employed to reduce the debt burden. This inquiry will focus on the tools the UK government uses or could use to help bring debt levels in low-income down to more sustainable levels.

Terms of Reference: Debt relief in low-income countries

The Treasury Committee has re-launched an inquiry into the decarbonisation of the UK economy and green finance. This inquiry will scrutinise the role of HM Treasury, regulators and financial services firms in supporting the Government’s climate change commitments. It will also examine the economic potential of decarbonisation for the UK economy in terms of job creation and growth.

Read the terms of reference press notice for the inquiry

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has launched an inquiry examining the path to decarbonising heating in homes.

The BEIS Committee will examine the Government’s ‘Buildings and Heat Strategy’, due in November, and investigate the policies, priorities and timelines which are needed to decarbonise heating in residential buildings and help ensure the UK gets on track to deliver Net Zero by 2050.

The Committee’s inquiry on decarbonising heat follows a successful pitch by Dr Jan Rosenow, Principal and European Programme Director, Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), at the Committee’s “MyBEIS” evidence hearing in July and is part of the BEIS Committee’s ongoing work on net zero and its follow-up to the findings of the Climate Assembly.

The decarbonising heat in homes inquiry is likely to examine areas such as the technological challenges to decarbonising heat including issues related to the future of hydrogen, network capacity and the distribution of costs, incentives, consumer engagement and protection, and how to co-ordinate and deliver low-carbon heating.

Witness details for the Committee hearings will be confirmed at a later date.

The Committee’s inquiry will explore the Government’s ambitions for Defence set out in the March 2021 Defence Command Paper, and how these relate to the ambitions of the Integrated Review. It will assess how, one year on from publication, the Ministry of Defence is planning to translate the aspirations of the Defence Command Paper into reality, and will explore the extent to which the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have changed the UK’s assessment of the risk of conventional versus ‘sub-threshold’ warfare.

Defence in Scotland: military personnel and estate

The Committee has launched an inquiry series into Defence in Scotland. This begins with an inquiry into the military personnel and military estate landscape in Scotland.

The Committee is exploring the impact the UK’s changing defence priorities and capabilities – including base closures, but also new military infrastructure investments – will have on communities in Scotland. As part of this the Committee is assessing whether the UK Government should offer any additional support to those affected. The Committee is also seeking views on how well Scottish people and places are represented in the UK military, and on the role of military installations in Scotland in supporting the UK’s international alliances.

Read the call for evidence and press release for more detail about the inquiry. 

This inquiry was postponed due to the General Election and is now being revisited by the newly constituted Defence Committee.

In 2015, the Strategic Defence and Security Review introduced a new National Security Objective to “Promote our Prosperity”. The Defence Industrial Policy refresh published in 2017 reaffirmed that “competition and strategic choice remain at the heart of our approach to defence procurement”, whilst committing to taking measures to protect freedom of action and operational advantage on national security grounds. It also laid out a three-pronged refresh to industrial policy, including:

• Improving the way defence delivers wider economic and international value, and national security objectives;
• Helping UK industry in its plans to be internationally competitive, innovative and secure; and
• Making it easier to do business with defence.

Supporting exports is now a core task of the MoD and has been incorporated into the National Shipbuilding Strategy (2017) and the Combat Air Strategy (2018).

Philip Dunne MP was commissioned by the then Defence Secretary to produce a report on “Growing the Contribution of Defence to UK Prosperity” which was published in 2018. He recommended that the MoD produce clearer, practical guidance on the prosperity factors defence is most likely to consider, the reasons for their importance and the primary metrics which might be used in assessing their value and relevance.

The Commitee will condsider new evidence, which can be submited till the deadline Thursday 23 April 2020. There is no need to resubmit previous written evidence.

On 16 March 2021, the Government published the first outcome of its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.

This inquiry will explore whether this document, “Global Britain in a Competitive Age”, provides clear strategic direction for the UK’s Armed Forces.

It will then assess whether a forthcoming Defence Command Paper delivers the capabilities required to enable them to fulfil the role expected of them.

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has resulted in several powers that were previously held by the EU being returned to the UK. Many of these powers are within the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs policy area and intersect with the competencies of the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Common Frameworks are a mechanism for the UK Government and devolved administrations to mutually agree on regulatory consistency for policy areas where returning EU powers are within devolved competence. They are sector-specific and jointly agreed between the UK Government and the relevant devolved governments.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee seeks views from interested individuals and organisations on the DEFRA Common Frameworks to inform its approach to scrutinising the frameworks.

The committee wants to hear from you. We welcome views on the following issues by 8 April 2022.

Link to call of evidence

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee is conducting an inquiry into the Government’s plans to deliver a UK science and technology strategy. The inquiry will consider what such a strategy should look like and how the UK’s research and innovation system can deliver it. The Committee has issued a call for written evidence, and will be taking oral evidence from February 2022.

Read the call for evidence for more information about this inquiry.

COP26 is the twenty-sixth UN Climate Change conference. The UK holds the presidency of the event, which is due to take place in Glasgow in November 2021. This inquiry will explore what steps the Government is taking to ensure that all departments are embedding climate change considerations in their processes, developing climate-credible policies, and contributing to a successful COP26 outcome.

In March 2021 the Committee reported that the Government’s emergency housing policy to get people sleeping rough off the streets as the Covid pandemic hit had “exposed a rough sleeping problem many times larger than Government has previously acknowledged”

The Committee also noted the ongoing lack of progress towards either of the promise to end rough sleeping entirely by 2024, or the Government’s manifesto commitments on house-building.

The Committee will recall senior officials at MHCLG for questions on addressing the housing crisis in the UK and the ongoing cladding scandal. There will also be questions on the wider “Levelling Up” agenda, including follow up on the Towns Fund which the Committee reported on in 2020.

If you have evidence on any of these issues to inform this session with MHCLG, please submit it here by Thursday 28 October 2021.

This major inquiry, 'Designing a public services workforce fit for future', will explore how the workforce in public services should be transformed to meet new user needs in the 21st century. It will look at the challenges faced by staff in the public sector because of user demand that is increasing and changing rapidly. Drawing on the Committee's established principles for public service reform, the inquiry will ask which innovative models have the potential to tackle those challenges, with a focus on reforming the training, planning and management of the workforce in public services.

This major inquiry, 'Designing a public services workforce fit for the future', will explore how the workforce in public services should be transformed to meet new user needs in the 21st century. It will look at the challenges faced by staff in the public sector because of user demand that is increasing and changing rapidly. Drawing on the Committee's established principles for public service reform, the inquiry will ask which innovative models have the potential to tackle those challenges, with a focus on reforming the training, planning and management of the workforce in public services.

In March the Committee reported concerns that the Department for Education’s (DfE) reliance on national figures that indicate schools are in reasonable financial health is masking “significant variation and challenges for individual schools”, and that some of the steps schools have taken to maintain their finances have adversely affected children’s education.

The Committee will question senior officials at DfE on the long delayed SEND review, the White Paper and the pandemic “catchup” programme that was recently overhauled with funding shifted away from the contracted provider direct to schools.

If you have evidence on any of these issues, please submit here by 6pm on Thursday 5 May 2022.

The NAO has published its report on DHSC’s accounts for the year 2020-21, with its official audit opinion “qualified” on a series of grounds related to the Department’s spending:

 - there was insufficient evidence to support the year-end inventory and accruals balances

- £1.3 billion of the Department’s COVID-19 spending was spent either without the necessary HM Treasury approvals or in breach of conditions set by HM Treasury

- there was insufficient evidence to show that the Department’s spending, particularly on COVID-19 procurement, was not subject to a material level of fraud

The Committee will question senior officials at DHSC on these findings. If you have evidence about DHSC’s spending and operation of its budget over the year 2020-21, please submit it here by Monday 28 February at 18:00.

Regulators must continually adapt to the fast-changing digital world. This inquiry will investigate the effectiveness of digital regulation and how to ensure that it is forward-looking, joined-up, and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.

Background

1. The Committee has launched an inquiry into digital trade and data. Digital trade refers to digitally enabled, or digitally delivered, trade in goods and services. Such trade involves the movement of data.  

2. The Committee’s inquiry will explore a range of issues, including digital trade and data provisions in Free Trade Agreements, concerns around the security and privacy of data, the environmental impact of digital trade, and the relevant legal frameworks. 

The inquiry will examine the implications for the UK of the European Commission's proposal to end seasonal clock changes in the EU. It will consider what preparations the Government should make for the possibility that the Directive is adopted, and what factors should inform its approach. This will include the implications of non-alignment, especially for Northern Ireland, or how the Government should approach the choice between permanent summer-time or winter-time, if it is required or decides to align with the proposal.

There is evidence to suggest that women, certain ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are underrepresented in education, training and employment related to STEM. While there is significant variation in rates of progression and outcomes across ethnic minority groups, research shows that ethnic minority staff and students have consistently poorer outcomes than white staff and students. There is also variation within ethnic minorities. Recent data from the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM show that 65% of the STEM workforce are white men and that, proportionally, white women are less likely to be STEM workers than ethnic minority women. Further, the percentage of academic staff with a known disability is lower for staff working in STEM than non-STEM, and 2020 data analysis from the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM found that disabled people of all ethnicities are underrepresented in the STEM workforce.

While there is comparatively less data on the socioeconomic background of the STEM workforce a 2014 Royal Society report found that it does have a strong effect on an individual’s likelihood of entering the scientific workforce.

The importance of diversity amongst the research community has been acknowledged by UK Research and Innovation’s Chief Executive, Dame Ottoline Leyser, who said: “high-quality research and innovation needs diversity. You have to have people with different ideas and different backgrounds coming together to create the kind of environment where extraordinary things happen”.

We understand that the issues raised in this work may be sensitive or upsetting and the following organisations may be able to offer support or further information:  

• Samaritans – General support for everyone. Call 116 123 - 24 hours a day, every day, or email jo@samaritans.org
• Mind – for information, advice, and support for anyone experiencing a mental health problem. Call 0300 123 3393.
• Citizens Advice - For independent, free advice provided by a network of charities online, over the phone and in person on a wide variety of issues including benefits, work, debt, housing, family and immigration. Their Adviceline is available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, by calling 0800 144 8848 (England) or 0800 702 2020 (Wales) 

There is evidence to suggest that women, certain ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are underrepresented in education, training and employment related to STEM.

While there is significant variation in rates of progression and outcomes across ethnic minority groups, research shows that ethnic minority staff and students have consistently poorer outcomes than white staff and students. For example, data from 2007–2019 show that, compared to white STEM staff, STEM ethnic minority academic staff are more likely to be employed on a fixed term contract and are less represented in more senior contract levels. There is also variation within ethnic minorities: in 2018/19 19.2 per cent of STEM academic staff aged 34 and under were Asian compared to 1.8 per cent who were Black.

In addition, the recent data from the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM show that 65% of the STEM workforce are white men and that, proportionally, white women are less likely to be STEM workers than ethnic minority women (10% of white female workers are in STEM, compared to 13% of ethnic minority female workers).

Further, the percentage of academic staff with a known disability is lower for staff working in STEM than non-STEM, and 2020 data analysis from the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM found that disabled people of all ethnicities are underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The gap in representation between STEM workers and others is larger for disabled women than disabled men. While a majority of non-STEM disabled workers are male (59%), only one-third (33%) of STEM disabled workers are female.

While there is comparatively less data on the socioeconomic background of the STEM workforce a 2014 Royal Society report found that it does have a strong effect on an individual’s likelihood of entering the scientific workforce.

The importance of diversity amongst the research community has been acknowledged by UK Research and Innovation’s Chief Executive, Dame Ottoline Leyser, who said: “high-quality research and innovation needs diversity. You have to have people with different ideas and different backgrounds coming together to create the kind of environment where extraordinary things happen”.

The Sub-Committee will focus on the Government's proposal to extend the off-payroll working rules –  which were introduced for the public sector in 2017 – to large and medium-sized organisations in the private sector from April 2020. The proposal would mean that businesses will be responsible for deciding whether contractors they hire are liable to pay income tax and national insurance contributions, and if so, for paying those sums.

The inquiry is accepting written submissions until 25 February 2020. Please read the call for evidence.

In scrutinising the draft Bill, the Committee will focus on three areas of the Bill, all related to the powers of HMRC:

• New proposals for tackling promoters and enablers of tax avoidance schemes;
• New tax checks on licence renewal applications; and
• Amendments to HMRC’s civil information powers.

The inquiry is accepting written submissions until 7 October 2020. Please read the call for evidence

The sub-committee will focus on two areas of the draft Bill:

• proposals for income tax basis period reform  
• notification by large businesses of uncertain tax treatment. 

The sub-committee is accepting written evidence until 13 October 2021. Please read the call for evidence at https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/585/.

The focus of the inquiry will be on illegal drug use and its effects on society and the economy.

The inquiry will consider the UK’s legislative framework on drugs and UK drug policy. The framework refers to, for example: the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016; and, where relevant, any subordinate legislation made under these Acts.

In particular, the inquiry will consider the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its efficacy today. It will assess what impact the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 has had since it came into force. The inquiry will also look at the impact of drug use in the UK, and at approaches to drugs adopted elsewhere.

Fraud and mistakes in benefit payments rose again in 2020-21 to the highest level on record. The need to relax checks to ensure the record number of new Universal Credit claims in the Covid19 crisis could be processed and paid was a major factor in this increase, but the National Audit Office has qualified its opinion on the regularity of DWP’s accounts for 33 years running, due to material fraud and error.

DWP has identified four of the largest causes of fraud and error within Universal Credit that it needs to tackle: incorrectly reported self-employment earnings, savings, living arrangements and housing costs.

It has also identified several organised criminal attacks during the pandemic, with fraudsters targeting Universal Credit in particular and making claims in other people’s names.

The Department is owed £5 billion in benefits overpayments, placing additional strain on its resources and causing uncertainty and hardship to claimants. It is not sure how much of its estimated loss of £8.4 billion in 2020-21 it will recover, as it has attempted to recover only 10% of the estimated loss in the last 5 years.

DWP estimates that 132,000 pensioners have been receiving less State Pension than they are entitled to due to ongoing control failings. The Department has now set aside £1 billion to reimburse people who have been underpaid their State Pension over the past 30 years. The Committee will return to the issue of state pension underpayments in a later inquiry.

The Committee will question senior officials at DWP. If you have new evidence on fraud and error in the benefits system, please submit it here by 6pm on Tuesday 7 September 2021.

In a follow up to its wider inquiry into DWP support for employment during Covid the Committee will question senior DWP officials more closely specifically on the ‘Kickstart scheme’.

The ‘Plan for Jobs’ announced in July 2020 included the £1.9 billion Kickstart scheme for young people. At that point, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was expecting a 10% peak in unemployment in quarter 2 of 2020, and furlough was expected to end in October 2020. The OBR now expects unemployment to peak at 6.5% in the final quarter of 2021, while the furlough scheme in fact ended in September 2021. The Kickstart scheme is due to end in December 2021, with employment prospects still uncertain.

If you have evidence on the operation or effectiveness of the Kickstart scheme and the value for money it represents, please submit it here by Monday 29 November

The Treasury Committee has launched an inquiry to review what progress has been made in combatting economic crime since it completed its inquiry in the previous Parliament.

Like the inquiry in the previous Parliament, this inquiry will have two strands:

• Anti-money laundering systems and the sanctions regime

• How consumers are affected by economic crime

The deadline for submitting evidence is 5pm on Friday 27 November.

It should be noted that the Committee will not take up individual cases, and any suspected criminal activity should be reported to the appropriate authorities.

The Treasury Committee launched the first stage of this inquiry on 18 March when it issued a call for evidence on the speed, effectiveness and reach of the Government’s and Bank of England’s immediate financial responses to coronavirus. The Committee will continue to highlight gaps in support to the Treasury.

The terms of reference for the next stage are set out in the call for evidence. In this stage, the Committee will examine the operational effectiveness, cost and sustainability of the Government’s and Bank of England’s support packages.

The Committee will also examine the impact on the economy and different sectors, the implications for public finances, and how the Government can work towards a sustained recovery.

Read the key points in an interactive summary of our new interim report on gaps in support

The deadline for submitting your written evidence has been extended until 26 June 2020. However please note that given the pace of change, earlier submissions will be of more use to the Committee.

The inquiry will focus on the educational experiences of children and young people from a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller background.

It will examine the educational challenges faced by these groups and will also evaluate the effectiveness of the Government’s recent £1 million education programme for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry

The inquiry is examining how current arrangements support learners in custody and how well prison education delivers the skills needed by employers. The inquiry is considering education for adults, young people and children in custody.  

It will look at what barriers exist, for instance, to delivering apprenticeships in a custodial setting. Also, what educational offers are in place to accommodate various length of sentences and different learning needs.  

The Committee is interested in how school exclusion policy impacts on youth custody and how alternative provision settings support young people who experience challenges in education and learning.   

Where possible the Committee is interested to hear prisoner learners’ and former prisoners’ own perceptions of how the prison education system is working and what might need to change.

COVID-19 has resulted in unprecedented levels of government spending, and borrowing is at its highest level since World War Two. As at May 2021, government expects to spend £372 billion on measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of measures to manage spending following the COVID-19 pandemic, Government is planning to try to increase its efficiency – trying to achieve the same or better outcomes with fewer resources - with this autumn’s Spending Review providing an opportunity to set a medium-term approach for spending across government.

The Committee will question senior officials at HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office on nine issues that Government will need to address, identified by the National Audit Office in a first review of the successes and failures of previous government attempts to increase efficiency in public spending.

If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by 6.00pm on Thursday 9 September 2021.

The inquiry is accepting further written submissions until 4pm on 4 March 2020. Please see the call for evidence.

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is to carry out an inquiry into the revised energy National Policy Statements (NPS). The current suite of energy National Policy Statements were designated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in 2011. The revised energy NPS were tabled by the Government on 20 September 2021 (HCWS295). They set out the Government’s policy for the delivery of energy infrastructure and provide the legal framework for planning decisions in key energy policy areas: fossil fuels (EN-2); renewables (EN-3); gas supply and gas and oil pipelines (EN-4); electricity networks (EN-5); and nuclear (EN-6). They each sit below an overarching energy NPS (EN-1) which sets out the need for new energy infrastructure.

The Government announced a review of the current suite of energy National Policy Statements (NPS) in the Energy White Paper: Powering our net zero future in December 2020.

The Government launched a public consultation on the draft revised energy National Policy Statements, supporting habitats and sustainability reports and associated appendices on 6 September 2021.  This is a separate process to the Select Committee’s inquiry and is closing on 29 November 2021.

Inquiry background

The Government’s Energy White Paper set a long-term strategic vision for the energy system, consistent with net zero emissions by 2050. The White Paper establishes a goal of moving away from fossil fuels to clean energy and the Government reviewed all the National Policy Statements for energy infrastructure and determined that EN-1 to EN-5 documents should be amended to reflect the policies set out in the White Paper and support the investment required to build the infrastructure needed for transition to net zero. A review of EN-6 concluded that it will not be amended and therefore it does not form part of the Government’s consultation or this inquiry.

The NPS has effect for the decisions by the Secretary of State on applications for energy developments that are nationally significant under the Planning Act 2008. For such applications this NPS, combined with any technology specific energy NPS where relevant, provides the primary policy for decisions by the Secretary of State. Under the Planning Act 2008 the Secretary of State must also have regard to any local impact report submitted by a relevant local authority, any relevant matters prescribed in regulations, the Marine Policy Statement (MPS) and any applicable Marine Plan, and any other matters which the Secretary of State thinks are both important and relevant to the planning decision.

The NPS must receive Parliamentary approval before new major energy infrastructure can be delivered. The Secretary of State will decide all applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects in England and Wales, adjacent territorial waters and the offshore Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) (except any part in relation to which Scottish Ministers have functions). In Northern Ireland, planning consent for all nationally significant infrastructure projects is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is holding an inquiry on Energy pricing and the future of the Energy Market.

The Committee’s inquiry on the retail energy market follows unprecedented surges in wholesale energy prices since the summer and with a number of firms going out of business, including Bulb, Britain’s seventh-biggest supplier with 1.6 million households as customers.

The inquiry will examine the extent to which the policy and regulatory environment has contributed to the current issues affecting the energy market, the impact on consumers of rising energy prices, and the operation of the energy price cap.

The BEIS Committee’s inquiry follows an evidence session with Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on 22 September,  on Government measures to support the energy industry and protect consumers. The Committee also heard from regulator, Ofgem: trade body, Energy UK, and fuel poverty charity, National Energy Action.

Read the call for evidence for more information about this inquiry. 

The UK was part of the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) framework for financial support to farmers and rural development funding for more than 40 years before Brexit. In 2019-20 farmers in England received over £1.8 billion in direct payment subsidies, based mainly on the amount of land farmed.

In late 2021, Defra is introducing the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELM) to replace CAP. It will focus on improving the environment by paying farmers for certain environmental benefits, instead of offering payments based on the amount of land farmed. This means the ELM scheme will interact with government’s achieving wider environmental and climate change objectives.  

This inquiry builds on the Committee’s growing programme of work on public spending and the environment. Over two evidence sessions, the Committee will question representatives of farming and conservation groups, and senior officials at Defra and the Rural Payments Agency on whether the ELM is being well designed and managed to meet its objectives.

If you have evidence on these questions please submit it here by 6pm on Wednesday 13 October 2021.

The Liaison Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to follow-up on the recommendations of the Equality Act 2010 and Disability Committee. The report of the Committee and the government response can be found on the former Committee’s webpage.

Equality and the UK asylum process

The Women and Equalities Committee is examining the fairness of the UK asylum process, looking at the experiences of people seeking asylum who have a range of protected characteristics (as defined in the UK’s Equality Act).

The Committee is seeking evidence about the nature and extent of asylum claims from people with diverse characteristics, for example age, race, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation and gender reassignment, and different groups’ experiences of the asylum process in the UK. It will assess how far the Government is able to address discrimination or specific dangers for those with protected characteristics within the existing system. The inquiry will also consider any early evidence about people’s experiences of the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme.

More information on the inquiry – links to press notice of inquiry launch

In December 2020 the UK and the EU reached agreement on the terms of their future relationship following Brexit. Since the end of the agreement ‘transition period’ on 31 December 2020, there have been changes in how the UK trades with the EU, and in relation to the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland:

• the EU has begun treating the UK as a third country and has implemented full controls on goods passing between the UK and the EU;
• the UK plans to introduce full import controls on goods moving from the EU to the UK in phases from October 2021 to March 2022.

In addition, grace periods on the movement of certain goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland are currently planned to expire in October 2021, which will bring about further changes. These arrangements are currently the subject of intense negotiations.

Across two evidence hearings the Committee will question experts in international trade and customs, including live animal transport issues and issues related to supply chains in Northern Ireland; and senior officials at the Cabinet Office, HMRC and Defra.

If you have evidence on Government’s progress in managing the border and implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol since the end of the transition period; the impact of the new border arrangements on businesses and industry sectors; or how government is managing future risks in these areas particularly in relation to introducing full import controls, please submit it here by Monday 15 November.

The Committee will hold a brief hearing on Serious Fraud Office exceeding the £1 million it is authorised to spend annually by Parliament.

The SFO’s 2020-21 annual accounts were qualified by the NAO because it breached this annual spending limit by £2.55 million, due to legal costs arising from a failed prosecution.

If you have evidence on the SFO’s spending please submit it here by Wednesday 2 February 2022 at 18:00.

This inquiry aims to establish a clearer picture of the amount and quality of provision of exempt accommodation. This includes understanding the strengths and weaknesses of current provision and looking for recommendations on the changes that might be needed to improve exempt accommodation.

The International Development Committee, which scrutinises the development work of the UK government, is starting an inquiry into Extreme Poverty and the Sustainable Development Goals. The inquiry will look specifically at how the development work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) impacts on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 1, Target 1.1. This goal calls for the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030, where ‘extreme poverty’ is defined as earning less than $1.90 per day.

The new inquiry will aim to understand what the change in the rate at which extreme poverty is declining means for the FCDO’s development strategy and its current policies and programmes; examine the extent to which the FCDO’s strategies, policies and programmes target extreme poverty and make recommendations on how they might need to be changed; follow up on the work previously done by the Committee, and its predecessor in the previous parliamentary session, on the pandemic and its secondary impacts; and connect to the work the Committee is doing to ensure that the UK government’s foreign aid spending is effective and achieves good value for money.

Terms of reference: Extreme poverty and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Committee is holding an evidence session with expert commentators on the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces’ progress on the F-35 and Carrier Strike programmes. 

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to discuss the Farming Rules for Water Regulation on 11 January. 

The Farming Rules for Water aim to tackle diffuse water pollution from agriculture and are set out in these regulations. The Environment Agency’s guidance for farmers on what they need to do to comply with the regulation can be found here.  

We’ve previous written to the Environmental Agency about these regulations following concern from the sector about the impact the rules are having on their ability to spread of organic manure in the autumn, to meet the need of the spring crop. You can read out letter here and their response here.  

The Liaison Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to follow-up on the recommendations of the Finacial Exclusion Select Committee. The report of the Committee and the government response can be found on the former Committee’s webpage.

In a 2016 investigation the NAO found that on the basis of the Department for Education’s planned funding at that time, schools would need to find significant savings to counteract cost pressures caused mainly by rising pupil numbers and increases in staff costs.

Since then Government has increased funding for schools and provided additional support to help schools improve their financial sustainability, but in October the PAC reported that the new national schools funding formula put in place by DfE has seen a real terms shift in funding from already more deprived areas and schools to less deprived ones.

The Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency on whether DfE is distributing funding and supporting schools in a way that improves financial sustainability, including whether it:

• has increased school funding in real terms and in a way that takes account of cost pressures;
• is distributing funding for schools in line with its objectives; and
• is supporting schools effectively to improve their financial positions.

If you have evidence on any of these questions, please submit it here by Wednesday 1 December.

Higher education providers can have a fundamental influence on the future lives of graduates, with consequences for the national economy. Providers are independent bodies, and the sector’s financial sustainability is heavily dependent on student fee income, top-up grant funding, and government research funding. Providers face a range of financial pressures, including challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Office for Students, an arm’s-length body sponsored by the Department for Education, began operating in January 2018 and seeks to protect students’ interests. The Committee will question senior officials at  DfE and OfS on how effectively they are protecting students’ and taxpayers’ interests from risks to higher education providers’ financial sustainability, including:

• whether DFE has set a clear purpose and scope for the oversight regime;
• whether the DfE and OfS are effectively managing known, systemic, risks;
• and whether DfE and OfS have responded appropriately to new financial risks, for example arising from COVID and EU exit.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Monday 14 March 2022 18:00.

The Joint Committee on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act has been established by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to:

1) carry out a review of the operation of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, pursuant to section 7 of that Act, and if appropriate in consequence of its findings, make recommendations for the repeal or amendment of that Act; and

(2) consider, as part of its work under subparagraph (a), and report on any draft Government Bill on the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 presented to both Houses in this session.

A draft Bill is expected to be published shortly.

The Committee will take evidence on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act already given to the House of Lords Constitution Committee and to the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee into account in its work.

The Committee invites written evidence on either the operation of the Act or the draft Bill.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.

The inquiry will consider the operation and implications of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. It will explore how the Act has worked in practice, how the 14-day period following a successful no confidence motion would work in practice, the Act's effect on the concept of the House of Commons having 'confidence' in the Government, and what the consequences of repealing or amending the Act might be. Following recent developments, the inquiry has been expanded to consider the potential constitutional implications of the recent court judgment on the proroguing of Parliament.

The Environmental Audit Committee will follow-up work on its 2018 inquiry, Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability. The Committee has chosen to revisit the issue to monitor progress due to continued concerns around the environmental impact of the fashion industry and working conditions in UK garment factories.

The Government rejected most of the Committee’s recommendations in 2019, which ranged from a producer responsibility charge to pay for better clothing collection and recycling to requiring due diligence checks across fashion supply chains to root out forced or child labour. However, the Government has identified textile waste as a priority area to address its Resources and Waste Strategy.

Fashion production has a considerable impact on climate and biodiversity. The global fashion industry is estimated to have produced around 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018; the equivalent to the combined emissions of France, Germany and the UK.

Fast fashion also creates a waste problem in the UK and developing countries. UK citizens buy more new clothes than any other European country and throw away over a million tonnes of clothing every year. While two thirds of clothing is either donated or collected for resale or low quality recycling, around 336,000 tonnes is disposed of in household bins destined for landfill or incineration.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on garment factories in Leicester. Reports of poor working conditions suggests there has been little improvement since the Committee’s report, which recommended regular audits and for companies to engage with unions for their workers.

The Committee’s follow-up work will consist of gathering written evidence and a one-off oral evidence session.

The Committee is inviting written evidence on the following:

1. What progress has been made in reducing the environmental and social impact of the fashion industry since the Fixing Fashion report came out?
2. What impact has the pandemic had on fashion waste?
3. What impact has the pandemic had on the relationship between fashion retailers and suppliers?
4. How could employment law and payment of the minimum wage be more effectively enforced within the UK fashion industry?
5. What are the pros and cons of proposals to license factories or more strongly regulate purchasing practices?
6. What would be the most effective measures industry or Government could put in place to ensure that materials or products made with forced or prison camp labour are removed from the supply chain?
7. How can any stimulus after the Coronavirus crisis be used to promote a more sustainable fashion industry?
8. Is the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan adequate to address the environmental impact of the UK fashion industry? How ambitious should its targets be in its next phase?
9. What actions could Government take to improve the collection of fashion waste?
10. What actions could the Government take to incentivise the use of recycled or reused fibres and materials in the UK fashion industry?
11. How could an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for textiles be designed to incentive improvements in the sustainability of garments on sale in the UK?

Summary and objective 

Recent events have brought the challenges of managing flood risk back to national attention, and climate change means these events are likely to become more frequent. Building on the previous Committee’s interim report on coastal flooding and adaptation to climate change, this inquiry would focus on the Government’s approach to managing the risk of inland flooding in England.  

The inquiry will also take into account evidence received and questions raised during the coastal flooding inquiry.

If you are attempting to submit evidence once the submission period has closed, please contact efracom@parliament.uk

The Sub-Committee on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is undertaking a follow-up inquiry into the impact of the socio-economic and political impact of the Protocol, analysing developments since the publication of its introductory report in July 2021, and assessing the current state of play of discussions between the UK and the EU on the future of the Protocol. The Committee will begin hearing evidence before the commencement of the Northern Ireland Assembly election campaign at the end of March, and will continue its evidence programme after the election on 5 May.

The International Development Committee is taking evidence on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) annual report and accounts for the financial year 2020 to 2021.

One area of questioning may be around figures that show a reduction in direct UK aid to the poorest countries. The Committee may also ask about reports that the government intends to ‘rebadge’ as development aid some elements of government spending usually counted under other budgets. If this is the case it could reduce the annual UK budget available for items more typically classed as aid by billions of pounds. There are reports that Covid-19 vaccine donations and cancelling Sudan’s debts to UK Export Finance (a body under the Department for International Trade) could be counted as aid.

The Committee may also ask questions about staffing issues at the FCDO. This will relate to the financial year 2020-21 and include information about any changes brought about by the merging of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

This short inquiry seeks to examine the ability of the Justice System to effectively prosecute fraud cases. The Committee is particularly interested in how the system is set up to tackle lower-level frauds, that are often not serious enough to be considered by the Serious Fraud Office but have a significant impact on the public. We also seek to understand the plans that the Government and bodies working in the Justice System have to tackle rising instances of fraud.

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry.

The inquiry will focus on freedom of expression as an essential foundation of democratic society, guaranteed by the common law and by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.

Debates and exchanges of information and content increasingly take place online. The internet has enabled individuals to publish and share their views with large audiences in a way that was not previously possible. This inquiry will investigate how public policy can best protect the right to freedom of expression on the internet and how that right should be balanced with other priorities.

The Committee is examining how Government fuel policy will affect connectivity, capacity and sustainability across all transport modes, including motor vehicles, maritime, rail and aviation, up to 2050.

We are particularly interested in receiving written evidence that addresses:

1. The effect of Government fuel policy on future road, rail, air and maritime connectivity;
2. Whether and how the Government is ‘technology neutral’ in its regulation and assessment of alternative fuels, and how its policies on alternative fuels influence investment, research, development and production;
3. The infrastructure required to develop, produce, store and dispense alternative fuels;
4. Steps that the Government could take to maximise the utility of the UK’s existing transport stock, while meeting its climate-change commitments; and
5. The contribution that alternative fuels could make to sustainability, transport decarbonisation and connectivity.

The United Kingdom as currently constituted marks its centenary in 2021. It is also under strain. Both Brexit and the differences in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic between the UK Government, the devolved administrations and English local government have highlighted long-standing tensions in inter-governmental relations.

The Constitution Committee is exploring how power can best be shared within the UK to establish stable and effective governance arrangements throughout the UK for the 21st century. The inquiry will consider issues such as:

• The current balance of powers within the UK
• The current challenges for multi-level governance in the UK
• The current approach to devolution within England
• The common purpose of the UK

The UK’s nuclear power is generated primarily by seven advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) stations, owned by EDF Energy.

The AGRs are scheduled to stop generating electricity during this decade, at which point fuel will be removed and transferred to Sellafield for safe storage. The AGRs will then be transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The cost of defueling and decommissioning AGRs will be met from the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, and the government will guarantee any funding shortfall. In June 2021, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy announced revised commercial and delivery arrangements for the defueling and decommissioning process.

The Committee will question senior officials at BEIS and the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency on:

• the estimated cost of decommissioning AGRs and the funding available to do so;
• the revised agreements covering the defueling and decommissioning of AGRs; and
• progress with planning for defueling and decommissioning the stations, and risks to value for money.

If you have evidence on these questions please submit it here by Monday 31 January 2022 18:00.

The International Development Committee is conducting ongoing scrutiny work into the changes to the aid budget. Work in this area includes scrutiny of the cut from spending 0.7% to 0.5% of UK GNI on ODA, the merger of the FCO and DFID and the conclusions of the Integrated Review.

The EU Environment Sub-Committee is holding a short inquiry on the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement as it relates to its remit: energy, environment, health, food trade, agriculture, fishing, climate change and chemicals. The inquiry will focus on the provisions in the Agreement, any challenges that arise, and where UK-EU relations should go from here.

The European Union Committee is holding a short inquiry into the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.  The inquiry will look at the governance arrangements contained in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement with a focus on the provisions on dispute resolution and arbitration.

This inquiry will examine the future of UK-EU relations on trade in services, including the impact of the provisions set out in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The service sectors of interest to the Committee’s inquiry include, but are not limited to: financial services; professional and business services (such as legal services, accountancy, auditing, architecture, engineering, advertising, market research, recruitment services); research and education; the creative industries (including audio-visual services); and data and digital services.

The House of Lords EU Goods Sub-Committee is launching an inquiry into future UK–EU relations and the implications of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on trade in goods. The Committee’s inquiry will examine the agreement with a focus on non-tariff barriers (rules of origin and technical barriers to trade), customs arrangements, and aviation and road transport.

Women MPs in the House of Commons, like their counterparts globally, continue to face barriers to gender equality. Today the Women and Equalities Committee is launching a new inquiry to assess recent progress and make recommendations to create a more ‘gender-sensitive’ Parliament.

Following The Good Parliament report in 2016 by Professor Sarah Childs, a gender-sensitive audit was carried out on the UK Parliament in 2018 finding that barriers included:

• The culture of Parliament as highlighted in recent reports of bullying and harassment, and sexual harassment;

• The challenges that working in Parliament poses for family life, including the unpredictability of business and potential long hours;

• The financial impact of standing for Parliament; and

• Online threats and threats to physical security, in particular gender-based intimidation, harassment and violence against female Parliamentarians and female candidates.A series of actions includes a new Proxy Voting scheme for those on parental leave (and for COVID-related reasons) and an Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme containing a Behaviour Code for the whole Parliamentary Community.

This work is in line with action internationally where the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has published Guidelines for the elimination of sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliament and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians has published the Gender Sensitising Parliaments Guidelines: Standards and a checklist for Parliamentary Change.

Committee Chair Caroline Nokes MP said:

“While there has been progress and important changes in recent years, Parliament still remains too much of a “boys’ club”, and this can be experienced negatively by men as well as women. We are launching this inquiry during Women’s History Month to look at how the House of Commons has progressed in implementing changes set out in previous reports, and how far there is still to go in making it more gender sensitive. If we want to see equal representation, we need to create a Parliament where equal treatment and modern working conditions can be taken for granted by future generations of women and men, whatever their background.”

The Administration Committee has launched an inquiry into the support and services provided to Members of the House of Commons and their offices at general elections. This will include returning and newly-elected Members and those who are standing down or lose their seats, as well as Members' staff. Submissions are also invited on the practical support provided to Members' offices, including the process of moving into accommodation, IT support and training.

Read the terms of reference to find out more about the inquiry.

This inquiry will look at the Global Environmental Facility to assess how effectively its work aligns with the Government’s environmental targets and spending.

Click here to submit evidence to this inquiry.

International forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, 20 years after the US-led invasion. The Taliban quickly gained control of the country, taking Kabul on 15 August and triggering an immense effort to evacuate UK nationals and others eligible for protection. This inquiry will examine the FCDO’s role in the withdrawal, including how effectively it planned and coordinated with other powers. It will also look ahead to the objectives of the UK’s future relationship with Afghanistan, including the security, counter-terrorism, human rights and humanitarian impact of the Taliban’s takeover, and the implications for wider UK foreign policy.

In July 2020 the PAC made its first report on the UK Government’s broad, initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, saying there had been an “astonishing” failure to plan appropriately especially in relation to the national economy, where it was revealed in evidence to the Committee that there had really been “no specific plan” at all.

The Committee has since reported on Government failures in balancing risk across many aspects of its response to the pandemic, and lack of planning and preparedness despite an influenza pandemic having been identified as the UK’s top non-malicious risk on government’s National Risk Register since 2008.

This follow up inquiry is based on the NAO’s recent findings that Government was not fully prepared for the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on society, the economy and essential public services, and did not act upon some warnings from the simulations carried out prior to COVID-19, which highlighted issues around planning, coordination and capability that apply to pandemics more broadly.

For example, Government lacked detailed plans on shielding, employment support schemes and managing the disruption to schooling. Departments’ pandemic plans and business continuity plans set out some, but not all, of the responses required to maintain operations during the pandemic.

Preparations for EU exit enhanced the crisis capabilities and risk planning of some departments but meant that government paused work on other emergency preparations, limiting its ability to focus on other risk and contingency planning at the same time.

The Committee will question senior officials at DHSC and the Cabinet Office. If you have evidence on the issues raised in this inquiry, please submit it here by Wednesday 5th January 2022.

At the start of the pandemic Government had to rapidly create high volume COVID-19 testing capacity, but the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that, even taking the exceptional circumstances into account, “the documentation of the decision-making process for such large contracts was inadequate”, and Government did “not document key decisions adequately when awarding a contract to Randox Laboratories Ltd (Randox) for testing services”.

The gaps in the audit trail mean the NAO was “not able to provide positive assurance in the normal way, but has not seen any evidence that the government’s contracts with Randox were awarded improperly”.

The Committee will question senior officials at DHSC and UK Health and Safety Agency.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6 pm Thursday 11 May 2022.

In July 2020, the government allocated £3 billion to reduce carbon emissions from current heating systems in 600,000 homes and public buildings. This included £1.5 billion to help property owners cover the cost of installing energy efficient measures, such as insulation or renewable heat systems.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (the Department) contracted with a digital services company to develop an IT platform so people could apply for Green Homes Grant vouchers.

In Spring 2021 it was reported that only a small proportion of the vouchers had been allocated.

The Committee will question senior officials at BEIS on the Green Home Grant’s design and objectives; the procurement of the contract for the Green Home Grant IT platform; and how the Green Home Grant has been managed and what has been achieved to date.

If you have evidence on these questions, please submit it here by 6pm on Thursday 16 September 2021.

The Environmental Audit Committee is launching an inquiry into Green Jobs. The inquiry will look at how green jobs can help tackle the expected rise in unemployment due to COVID-19 in a sustainable way. It will also look at the jobs, skills and training needed to achieve the UK’s longer-term climate and environmental ambitions and what planning and work is taking place to meet these requirements.

Greening the post-Covid recovery

In May the Committee held a session on the environmental implications of the Covid-19 crisis. Witnesses stressed how critical it would be to align the post-crisis recovery stimulus with the UK’s goals on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development – given the short window of opportunity remaining to keep global temperature rises to a manageable level. The Committee has since agreed to launch an inquiry looking at how to align any post-pandemic economic stimulus package with the UK’s climate and environment goals.

Economic impact and policy response

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a global macroeconomic shock unprecedented in peacetime. UK Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 10.4% in the three months from February to April – with monthly output collapsing by 20.4% in April after the lockdown was introduced. As the UK emerges from the initial public health crisis, the economic challenges may intensify as the Government tapers its employee and business support packages.

In Oct 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that time is running out to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C. In this context, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010-2016, explained to the Committee how critical it is that climate change mitigation is at the heart of the post-COVID recovery:

"Those rescue packages, US$10 trillion to US$20 trillion, will not only be defined but very likely allotted over the next 18 months. Because of the scale, they will determine the characteristics of national economies and of the global economy for several decades. It is exactly this decade, between 2020 and 2030, where climate science has been lucidly clear that we need to halve our emissions, reduce to 50% the emissions that we have right now."

The Committee also heard from Professor Cameron Hepburn, Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme at the Oxford Martin School, about the potential for green investment to boost the economy, providing more jobs; delivering higher short-term returns per pound spent by Government, and leading to increased long-term cost savings.

Global leadership

In 2021 the UK will be hosting COP26 and will also hold the G7 Presidency. This provides a platform for the UK to take an international leadership role and galvanise a green and climate-friendly global response to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

The Committee’s inquiry will consider how the post-pandemic recovery can be aligned with the UK’s climate and environment goals and the role that the UK can play in driving a green recovery internationally. Please submit evidence by 14th August, by clicking on the button below.

The Committee has launched an inquiry which will explore the implications of grid capacity issues for the energy sector in Wales, particularly in relation to Wales meeting its net zero targets. 

This inquiry is looking at how the Health and Safety Executive manages the continued presence of asbestos in buildings.

We’ll be asking about the current risks posed by asbestos in the workplace, the groups of people who are most affected, and how well the current laws and regulations for the management of asbestos are working.

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry.

Health assessments for benefits

The Committee is investigating the assessment processes for health-related benefits. These include PIP, ESA, Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Attendance Allowance and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. The Committee is focusing on how the Department for Work and Pensions can improve the application and assessment processes for these benefits.

We’re focusing on:

• How DWP could improve the quality of its assessments;
• Lessons from the pandemic, including whether changes DWP made to the assessment processes then should continue;
• How DWP could make applying for benefits more straightforward for claimants

Health assessments for benefits call for evidence in multiple formats

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry

We can’t help you with individual problems that you’re having with your benefits. The following organisations may be able to give you support or advice:

Citizens Advice - For independent, free advice provided by a network of charities online, over the phone and in person on a wide variety of issues including benefits, work, debt, housing, family and immigration.

You can contact an adviser through Citizens Advice’s national phone service:

Adviceline (England): 0800 144 8848Advicelink (Wales): 0800 702 2020 

Adviceline is available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

StepChange – For independent, free debt advice.

Call 0800 138 1111, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 8am to 4pm.

We know that our inquiry raises issues that might be difficult or upsetting for you. You can contact the 24-hour Samaritans helpline on 116 123 if you feel low or anxious and need someone to talk to, or email them on jo@samaritans.org

The Committee has previously reported, following its HS2 inquiry updates in 2020 and 2021, that the High-Speed 2 rail project was “badly off course” with project managers “blindsided by contact with reality” and raised serious concerns about the official account that had been provided to the Committee, over time, of the project’s health. 

The Committee will question Bernadette Kelly, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport and Mark Thurston, Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, on latest progress, costs and timing estimates for the whole remaining programme.

If you have evidence on the current state of the HS2 programme please submit it here by 6pm on Monday 9 May 2022.

The Committee will hold its annual evidence hearing with senior HMRC officials on the overall position of UK tax revenues and how HMRC manages the taxation ‘tools’ at its disposal to achieve policy ends; the ‘tax gap’ of taxes owed which are not collected through error, avoidance or evasion; the administration of Covid support schemes through HMRC in this year of unprecedented public spending and potential losses to error and fraud in those schemes; and the longstanding issue of debt owed to HMRC and how it is being recovered.

If you have evidence on any of these issues in relation to HMRC’s revenues and expenditure in 2020-21, please submit it here by Wednesday 24 November 18:00.

The Committee will hold its annual evidence hearing with senior HMRC officials on the overall position of UK tax revenues and how HMRC manages the taxation ‘tools’ at its disposal to achieve policy ends; the ‘tax gap’ of taxes owed which are not collected through error, avoidance or evasion; the administration of Covid support schemes through HMRC in this year of unprecedented public spending and potential losses to error and fraud in those schemes; and the longstanding issue of debt owed to HMRC and how it is being recovered.

If you have evidence on any of these issues in relation to HMRC’s revenues and expenditure in 2020-21, please submit it here by Wednesday 24 November.

A recent report by the NAO found that tax debt is now more than double pre-pandemic levels, and current staffing at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are unlikely to be enough to manage the increased tax debt workload as the UK emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, with HMRC needing to pursue tax debt while allowing taxpayers time to recover their finances.

Total tax debt rose to £42 billion in September 2021, from £16 billion in January 2020. Total tax debt peaked at £67 billion in August 2020. More debt has been repaid as extensions for VAT and Self Assessment passed, and the economy has reopened. HMRC forecasts total tax debt will fall to £33 billion by March 2022, but this assumes the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed repayment behaviour.

Research indicates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on taxpayers is polarised, with some groups shoring up their bank balances, and others more badly affected.

Up to 2.4 million more taxpayers are in debt to HMRC following the COVID-19 pandemic, and those who were already in debt owe more. The average amount taxpayers owe has increased by 60%, from around £4,300 to £6,800. Older debts, which are often more difficult to collect, have increased in value from £2.5 billion in 2019-20 to £4.4 billion in 2020-21.

Pre-pandemic, HMRC achieved workforce efficiencies, but it did not close the gap between new tax debts and debts collected., and is now unlikely to have enough staff to manage the increased tax debt that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. HMRC intends to recruit 1,000 full time staff in 2021-22, however, it told the NAO that once staff turnover is factored in, this resource will only address current staffing shortfalls. HMRC forecasts that it will have twice the usual level of debt to manage at the end of March 2022. New debtors may require more support in the short term to agree payment plans.

The Committee will question senior officials at HMRC. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by Monday 10 January 2022.

The Committee is taking oral evidence on Home Office policy towards refugees from Ukraine.

The Government has launched a three-month consultation to reform the Human Rights Act 1998.

The consultation seeks views on the Government’s proposals to revise the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill of Rights.

It follows a report from the Independent Human Rights Act Review Panel which examined how the Human Rights Act is working after 21 years in operation.

This Report contains the Committee’s views on the topics which were the focus of that Independent Review.

The Committee will respond to the Government proposals which form the basis of its consultation.

Oral evidence ongoing

The International Development Committee has launched an inquiry, Humanitarian crises monitoring, which will start by considering the impact of coronavirus on developing countries around the world and the UK’s response. Countries with on-going humanitarian crises, or other dependencies on development aid, face significantly different challenges than higher income countries in tackling coronavirus. Where local agencies and infrastructure, including healthcare, is limited, and the provision of aid supplies and personnel is restricted, mounting an effective response to the pandemic will be extremely challenging.

Terms of reference: Humanitarian crises monitoring: impact of coronavirus 

The Committee will be inquiring into hydrogen and carbon capture in Scotland as a follow up to our renewable energy in Scotland inquiry. We want to hear about Scotland's role in hydrogen production and including opportunities for carbon capture utilisation and storage. The focus will be:

• The UK Government's Hydrogen strategy;
• Investment in hydrogen in Scotland;
• How Scotland can become a world leader in green hydrogen for domestic use and export;
• A just transition from oil and gas; and
• Any training required for a hydrogen ready workforce.

We want to hear from people and organisations who focus on hydrogen production in Scotland or those with the potential to work on hydrogen production.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry. 

The International Development Sub-Committee on the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) held an evidence session on UK support to the African Development Bank.

The session will hear from Minister James Duddridge and others including a representative of the Bank and ICAI's Chief Commissioner Dr Tamsyn Barton. The Committee explored the thinking behind ICAI’s review of the effectiveness of UK support, and questioning the Minister and officials on their response to the review and future policy in relation to the Bank.

The International Development Sub-Committee on the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will be holding an evidence session on ICAI’s review on the way the former DFID managed its nutrition programmes.

The Sub-Committee will be exploring: how stakeholders have reacted to the ICAI’s review and DFID’s performance in nutrition; consider in more detail the thinking behind ICAI’s assessment of DFID’s efforts on nutrition; and to probe the Minister and officials on their response to the ICAI review and future policy in relation to nutrition.

In July 2021, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) published its review “International Climate Finance: UK aid for halting deforestation and preventing irreversible biodiversity loss.” The purpose of this session is to examine ICAI’s review, recommendations, and the Government Response and to question the government on its response to ICAI, its policies and priorities moving forwards for biodiversity and deforestation efforts.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) published a review, The UK aid response to Covid-19, last year. This review focused on the initial aid response to the pandemic, including how DFID and then FCDO reprioritised its resources in response, and how the UK has supported the vaccine rollout in developing countries. ICAI has also published an information note on UK aid spending during Covid-19: management of procurement.

The Sub-Committee will question both ICAI and the Government on the review and information note, including on what more the UK can do to accelerate the supply of vaccines to developing countries, and how it intends to count donated vaccines as aid.

The International Development Committee's Sub-Committee on the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) is to hold an evidence session on ICAI's review of the UK aid programme's approach to tackling Modern Slavery.

The Sub-Committee will explore the issue with the ICAI commissioner concerned with the review and will also learn of the experience of victims of modern slavery from those with knowledge of the situation, including a survivor. Members will also probe the effectiveness of the Government’s strategy for tackling modern slavery with key academic experts.

The International Development Sub-Committee on the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will be holding an evidence session on tackling corruption and illicit financial flows.

The session will consider the UK’s approach to tackling corruption and illicit financial flows following the publication of ICAI’s information note on the topic in March 2020. The Sub-Committee will be examining how corruption hinders development and progress on tackling it since the main International Development Committee’s report on Tackling Corruption Overseas was published (2016).

The International Development Sub-Committee on the Work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will hold an evidence session on ICAI’s information note on UK aid engagement with China.

The Sub-Committee will explore how the UK and China can cooperate on development, including on issues such as climate change; why the UK spends aid in China; what past UK aid spend in China has achieved; and the changing aid relationship between the two countries.

The International Development Sub-Committee on the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will hold an evidence session on ICAI’s review on tackling fraud in UK aid.

The Sub-Committee will explore with witnesses from ICAI and the FCDO the extent and impact of fraud on UK aid; how effective UK government departments are in the prevention, detection and management of fraud; and what lessons can be learned to ensure that fraud risk is managed effectively in the future.

In July 2021, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) published its review “UK aid’s approach to youth employment in the Middle East and North Africa.”

This review focused on programmes aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. FCDO does not have any dedicated programmes aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the region; it does, however, have programmes which are aimed at promoting economic stability and growth, which cover youth employment.

The objectives of this evidence session are to examine ICAI’s review, recommendations, and the Government Response and to question the government on its response to ICAI and its policies and priorities for supporting youth employment in the MENA region.

Using Nigeria as a case study of Global Britain in action, we will seek to identify ways in which multiple, and inter-related, aspects of foreign policy engagement can be brought together in the coherent approach set out in the Integrated Review given the existing mechanisms of government.

This inquiry will explore the questions raised by the ‘Tilt to the Indo-Pacific’ announced in the Integrated Review. By answering country specific and broader regional questions, the inquiry will identify the main opportunities and challenges for the UK’s realignment to the Indo-Pacific region and deliver recommendations for maximising its influence and engagement there.

This inquiry will explore the questions raised by the ‘Tilt to the Indo-Pacific’ announced in the Integrated Review. By answering country specific and broader regional questions, the inquiry will identify the main opportunities and challenges for the UK’s realignment to the Indo-Pacific region and deliver recommendations for maximising its influence and engagement there.

Following Brexit, free movement of products of animal original (POAO) and live animals between Great Britain and the European Union ended. The EU introduced full border checks immediately after the EU rules on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards ceased to apply to GB on 1 January 2021.  

In contrast, full checks and controls have yet to be introduced in GB for EU imports of all but the most high-risk POAO. Full checks and controls were originally due to be introduced on 1 January 2021 – however, the timetable has been revised four times by the Government, sometimes only shortly before the planned start date. 

The Committee is concerned that the continued lack of full checks and controls on POAO imports from the EU risks both our competitiveness and bio-security, and weakens our negotiating position with the EU.

Link to call of evidence.

More than 1,700 people are in prison serving indeterminate sentences for public protection, even though IPP sentences were abolished nearly 10 years ago. Some 96% of those prisoners have completed their mandatory period in prison (known as their “tariff”) and do not know when they will be released.

In this inquiry the Committee will examine policy issues surrounding IPP sentences, with the aim of identifying possible legislative and policy solutions.  

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry.

In 2018, the Ministry of Justice published a Female Offender Strategy, committing to reduce the imprisonment of vulnerable women who could be better supported in the community.

The strategy aims to reduce the number of women entering the criminal justice system; increase the use of community sentences; reduce short custodial sentences, and deliver a better experience for those in custody

The Committee will question women’s community service providers and senior officials at the MoJ and HMPPS on government’s progress in achieving the aims of the strategy. It will explore:

Whether the Department has a clear plan for how it will achieve the objectives set out in its strategy;Whether the strategy is being delivered in line with the Department’s plans, andWhether the Department is on track to meet the objectives and achieve the benefits it sets out

If you have evidence on any of these issues please submit it here by Wednesday 26 January 2022.

The inquiry will examine the power of influencers on social media, how influencer culture operates, and will consider the absence of regulation on the promotion of products or services, aside from the existing policies of individual platforms. An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority found that more than three-quarters of influencers “buried their disclosures within their posts”.

It will also assess influencer impact when it comes to media and popular culture as well as the positive role they can play, such as raising awareness for a campaign addressing vaccine hesitancy among people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The Committee is interested in the implications of the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) for the economy and rail capacity and connectivity. We are particularly interested in receiving written evidence that addresses:

• The contribution that the IRP will make to rail capacity and connectivity for (a) passengers and (b) freight in (i) the Midlands and the North and (ii) the UK
• Whether and how the IRP will “level up” communities in the Midlands and the North
• How the IRP will affect rail infrastructure and services outside the Midlands and the North
• The challenges to central Government, Great British Railways, regional and local authorities, transport bodies and other stakeholders in delivering the IRP
• How the rail schemes in the IRP will integrate and interact with HS2
• How the rail improvement schemes in the IRP were selected, and whether those selections represent equity between and within regions
• Whether the IRP represents value for money for UK taxpayers

This inquiry will consider the impact of Brexit on UK-EU international development cooperation. It will cover:

The reasons for and against cooperation in specific areas

Formal and informal arrangements through which the UK could continue to cooperate with the EU

The impact of Brexit on UK-based NGOs

The Sub-Committee on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is conducting introductory inquiry into the operation of the Protocol in April 2021. It wishes to examine the following issues: 

• the current situation in Northern Ireland as it relates to the Protocol, including views and concerns of communities and stakeholders; 
• the current state of play regarding the Protocol’s operation; 
• the continuing dialogue between the UK and the EU regarding the Protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee and the governance bodies reporting to it; and  
• efforts to identify solutions to the problems thus far identified. 

As part of the Committee’s overarching work into violence against women and girls, the Committee wishes to explore the key question of why rape prosecutions are falling. 

Read the call for evidence for more detail about this work.

The Committee is keen to understand from victims and survivors of rape and serious sexual assault what changes they think could help improve the experience of reporting what has happened to the police and going to court to get justice.

If you would like to submit your lived experience to the Committee, you can find questions about going through the criminal justice system following experiences of sexual violence here. You can also share why you might have chosen not to go through the criminal justice system. Responses to these questions should be received by 11 May 2021.

Find out more about the Committee’s wider work into violence against women and girls.

The Committee are assessing the economic effectiveness of UK Government policy to deliver investment in Northern Ireland. 

The inquiry looks at how these programmes may address long-standing economic issues in the region, and what further steps can be taken to stimulate investment, including foreign direct investment, in Northern Ireland.

Background

1. The Committee has launched an inquiry into inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – where overseas investors acquire ownership of, or a controlling stake in, UK businesses.

2. The Committee’s inquiry will look at issues including: Government strategy for promoting and facilitating inward FDI; the role of the new Office for Investment; the proposed National Security and Investment Regime; and the role played in UK inward investment by foreign governments’ Sovereign Wealth Funds.

Terms of Reference:

• How much difference can government policy make to economic growth?
• What are the causes of the gap in the UK’s level of productivity compared to other advanced economies, and why has productivity growth been persistently weak in the aftermath of the 2007-09 financial crisis?
• How successful has the Government’s pandemic response been in protecting jobs to date, and how can it help reduce and mitigate the economic scarring effects of the pandemic going forward?
• Do economic statistics adequately capture growth in the modern economy, and what lessons can be learned from the pandemic about the measurement of economic activity?
• What policies are effective in helping people to reskill, move between occupations and sectors and take advantage of new opportunities? How could these be best implemented in the aftermath of the pandemic, and as technological developments such as artificial intelligence change the nature of work?
• Does the Government have the right mix of policies and a coherent strategy to promote long-term productivity growth and create new high-quality jobs?
• Is the Government doing enough to encourage corporate investment?
• Is the “Plan for Growth” an adequate replacement for the “Industrial Strategy”?
• Are we in a period characterised by long-term low economic growth (secular stagnation), and if so, what are the implications for Government economic policy?
• Is the UK well placed to take advantage of future technological breakthroughs and translate them into economic opportunities?

Macroeconomic policy

• What are the roles of monetary policy and fiscal policy in stabilising the business cycle and promoting growth in the post-pandemic economy?
• Does the inflation target remain fit-for-purpose, especially in a world where interest rates may be ‘low for long’? Should the MPC target anything else?
• Does the MPC have effective monetary policy tools to stimulate the economy when interest rates are low?
• What evidence is there on the relationship between the scale of the public debt and economic growth?
• Is a return of inflation a risk to the economic recovery?
• Can monetary and fiscal policy improve employment, growth and/or productivity outcomes by ‘running the economy hot’?

Inquiry launch page

There have been reports of labour shortages affecting some businesses throughout the food and farming sector, for example:

• farms have been unable to hire all the seasonal workers they need to harvest food (and pick other crops such as flowers);
• businesses in the food and drink processing sector – the country’s largest manufacturing sector – have seen their output fall due to recruitment problems;
• shortages of HGV drivers, who provide the vital linkages within the food supply chain;
• some empty shelves at supermarkets & local stores and some menu items being unavailable at restaurants, which have had impacts for consumers.

The reasons are complex: Brexit following the end of the Transition Period on 31 December - including the introduction of the Government’s new immigration policy - and the covid-19 pandemic in particular are often cited, but are other factors also at play, and are the causes temporary or permanent?

This inquiry will explore what is causing labour shortages, and the impact on the food and farming sector both now and in the future.

It will also ask what other factors are affecting the food supply chain. This is likely to focus on the new post-Brexit trading relationship with the EU, including the latest impact of additional red tape and checks at the border since 1 January 2021 on businesses exporting food (and other “Sanitary and Phytosanitary”, or SPS, goods) to the EU. The inquiry will also consider the Government’s latest delay to introducing border controls and checks for SPS imports from the EU, including the effect on the competitiveness of British businesses.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the government launched a series of schemes providing financial support to businesses of all sizes. Of these, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) provided support to the largest businesses—those with a minimum turnover of £45 million. Commercial lenders (for example, banks, building societies and peer to peer lenders) provided financial support directly to businesses. Borrowers are expected to repay the debt in full and government provides a guarantee to the lenders.

The British Business Bank (BBB), acting as scheme administrator on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, authorised lenders to provide financial support under CLBILS following an accreditation process. BBB authorised Greensill Capital to issue financial support in June 2020. Greensill Capital filed for insolvency on 8th March 2021.

Drawing on Committee’s previous work and the National Audit Office’s  report on Greensill Capital, the inquiry will consider the operation of the Covid 19 financial support packages for business, in particular Greensill Capital’s involvement in the schemes including the accreditation process, and any post-accreditation monitoring of Greensill Capital’s activities.

The Committee will question senior officials at the Treasury and Department for Business, and the chief executive of the British Business Bank. If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6pm on Tuesday 20 July 2021. 

Lessons from implementing IR35 reforms

“Off-payroll working” - known as ‘IR35’ - tax rules can apply if a worker or “contractor” provides their services to the client through their own limited company or another type of intermediary.

The rules aim to make sure that workers who would be classed as an employee if they were providing their services directly to the client pay broadly the same Income Tax and National Insurance contributions as employees.

From April 2017, public bodies became responsible for determining whether IR35 applied to contractors providing services through an intermediary, where previously the intermediary or contractor was responsible.

This reform was prompted by perceived persistent non-compliance which HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) estimated cost the exchequer £440 million a year in lost tax revenue. From April 2021, these new requirements were extended to medium and large organisations in the private and third sectors.

The Committee has previously reported on concerns that some people who had complied correctly with the IR35 rules had missed out on Covid support for those still classified for tax purposes as “self-employed”.

With the reforms now taking effect in more sectors, the Committee will question senior officials at HMRC on what lessons have been learned from the public sector implementation of the IR35 reforms.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Monday 14 February 2022 18:00.

• Report: Brexit: competition and State aid (HTML)

This short inquiry will explore how the level playing field and state aid rules will feature in negotiations of the future relationship between the UK and the EU. Building on a previous inquiry, Brexit: competition and state aid, it will consider what the level playing field means in practice, how it operates in current EU free trade agreements, the EU’s goals with its state aid policies, and the opportunities that are open to the UK in formulating its own state aid policy, in particular for supporting wider UK Government objectives such as "levelling up" the country and meeting climate targets.

The BEIS Committee is holding an inquiry into Liberty Steel and the Future of the UK Steel Industry.

On 8 March 2021, the supply chain finance firm Greensill collapsed into administration after months of speculation about its financial viability. Greensill was the principal financial backer of GFG Alliance, owner of Liberty Steel, which is the third largest steel manufacturer in the UK. The collapse of Greensill puts 5,000 jobs at risk at Liberty Steel and other firms.

UK taxpayers are reported to be exposed to more than £1bn of debt from the collapse of Greensill Capital via three Government guarantees, including a state-backed coronavirus lending scheme, which enabled Greensill to advance hundreds of millions of pounds to companies linked to GFG Alliance.

On 28 March 2021, the Government rejected a request for £170m in financial support from Mr Gupta for Liberty Steel due to concerns over GFG Alliance's opaque accounting procedures. This raises questions about the effectiveness of auditing and corporate governance regulations, and about the risks posed to UK industry by high-risk financing methods.

The UK steel industry has faced serious challenges for many years, particularly due to the excess of steel on the international market which has depressed prices, and which resulted in plant closures and staff lay-offs during the 2015/16 steel industry crisis. The sector is also grappling with the Government's ambitious target of 2035 to achieve net zero emissions in relation to steel production.

The Liaison Committee will be holding a one-off evidence session to follow-up on the recommendations of the Licensing Act 2003 Committee. The report of the Committee and the government response can be found on the former Committee’s website.

 In 2019 the Liaison Committee wrote to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability at the Home Office undertaking initial follow-up. The reply from the Government can be found on the Liaison Committee's publication page.

In its first inquiry, the Committee is inviting people to share their hopes and fears about what the pandemic might mean in the long-term for our home and working lives, and for how we function as a society – what might it mean for social cohesion, for (in)equality, for our environment or for arts and culture?

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated our rapidly increasing reliance on digital technology. This inquiry will look at the long-term impact this may have on our social and economic wellbeing and, in particular, on four key drivers of wellbeing: physical health, mental health, social interaction and quality of working life.

The Finance Bill Sub-Committee is taking further evidence on the progress of the Loan Charge since the publication of the Morse Review in December 2019. This will focus on how HMRC has changed its approach to the Loan Charge since the review, ongoing challenges, and measures to tackle promoters of tax avoidance schemes who continue to operate in the UK.

After a series of PAC reports on the state of local authority finances over the last year including on the system of local government audit; local authority exposure to risky commercial investment  and potential losses in Covid support schemes; and the overall sustainability of the local authority finances, the Committee will question senior officials at the Treasury and newly renamed Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on the challenges now facing local government as we enter the long economic recovery from the Covid19 pandemic.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Monday 22 November.

This inquiry will focus on how adult social care should be funded in the long-term. The Committee aims to understand the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape for long-term funding reform since we published recommendations on the subject together with the Health and Social Care Committee in 2018. The inquiry will consider how additional funds for adult social care can be raised, and how the adult social care market can be improved. 

This inquiry will focus on how adult social care should be funded in the long-term. The Committee aims to understand the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape for long-term funding reform since we published recommendations on the subject together with the Health and Social Care Committee in 2018. The inquiry will consider how additional funds for adult social care can be raised, and how the adult social care market can be improved. 

The inquiry will examine the role of major cultural and sporting events in celebrating the UK’s national identity. Several events of international importance are due to be hosted in the UK in 2022, prompting this inquiry by MPs. 

The inquiry will consider the challenges in the road ahead to the Festival UK* 2022, the start of the FIFA World Cup 2030 bidding process and the Commonwealth Games, among others. A key focus will be how the Government is using these events as opportunities to define what the UK means to both its citizens and the rest of the world. The Committee is seeking views on what is needed for these events to bring together the people and values of all four nations of the UK and the kind of impact they should aim to achieve. 

Billions of pounds of investment has been committed during 2020 to the UK’s transport infrastructure.

This inquiry will consider:

• transport infrastructure strategy and priorities;
• the appraisal and funding of transport infrastructure;
• oversight, accountability and governance of transport infrastructure projects;
• factors influencing the cost and capacity and skills required to deliver the infrastructure plans.          

The extent to which the coronavirus pandemic will affect the necessity and cost-effectiveness of major transport infrastructure projects will factor in the Committee’s work. The Government also has a legal commitment to meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and infrastructure is a major contributor to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The NAO and PAC have previously reported on the commercial deals struck by government as part of its emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, finding in some instances that these deals may have left government with some that failed to meet the required standards, including hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of PPE that will not be used for the original intended purposes. 

The Committee will question senior officials at DHSC on the way government is managing its COVID-19 contracts and the goods it has received to date, including the actions taken by government if the goods have not been received, are not what was expected, or are no longer required.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6pm on Wednesday 13 April 2022

Putting cross-border travel measures in place during the COVID-19 pandemic often at speed to time-pressured deadlines then adapting and sustaining them required considerable efforts by government and others.

Although individual departments have been monitoring their own spending on implementing cross-border travel measures in response to COVID-19, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that Government has not routinely tracked the total cost across departments and agencies - despite spending at least £486 million.

Without a set of “performance measures to track effectiveness and with no evaluation of the additional costs incurred, Government cannot demonstrate that its implementation measures have achieved value for money”, nor use that to inform future decisions.

The Committee will question senior officials at the Cabinet Office, Home Office, DHSC, Department for Transport and Border Force.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6pm Thursday 16 May 2022.

This committee workstream, comprising a series of related evidence sessions, is focused on the strategies for delivery of the Government’s net zero strategy. The announcement follows the Climate Change Committee’s warning that time is running out for realistic climate commitments. 

In line with its remit "to consider to what extent the policies and programmes of government departments and non­departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development" and to audit their performance against targets  by Ministers, the Committee plans to examine whether the Government’s present strategies to meet its net zero targets are adequate to meet its policy ambitions.The Committee will collaborate closely with the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee in that Committee's own inquiry into Net Zero Governance, announced on 24 June 2021. The Committee also intends to work collaboratively with other departmental select committees monitoring carbon-intensive departments and their net zero strategies.

The first evidence session in this workstream is scheduled for 21 July 2021, when the Committee will discuss the Climate Change Committee's 2021 Progress Report to Parliament with the CCC Chief Executive, Chris Stark. Further details of this evidence session will be announced in due course.

The Department for Transport leads on maritime policy in government. Maritime includes the shipping, ports, services, engineering and leisure marine industries. Government strategy to support the maritime sector is set out in Maritime 2050: Navigating the future published in January 2019.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about this inquiry.

This inquiry will investigate the demand for new housing in the UK and how barriers to meeting this demand can be overcome.

This inquiry will consider the key factors shaping the type, tenure and quality of housing needed in the UK. It will examine a range of challenges to meeting that demand including skills shortages in the construction industry and some specific aspects of the planning system. The Committee will report by the end of the year and make recommendations to the Government.

The inquiry is accepting written submissions until 10 September 2021. Please see the call for evidence.

A 2019 survey conducted by BUPA and the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that three in five menopausal women- usually aged between 45 and 55- were negatively affected at work and that almost 900,000 women in the U.K. left their jobs over an undefined period of time because of menopausal symptoms. This could mean that women are leaving businesses “at the peak of their experience” which will “impact productivity”. Women in this age group are likely to be eligible for senior management roles, and so their exit can lessen diversity at executive levels. It can also contribute to the gender pay-gap and feed into a disparity in pensions.

Under the Equality Act 2010, menopause discrimination is largely covered under three protected characteristics: age, sex and disability discrimination. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 provides for safe working, which extends to the working conditions when experiencing menopausal symptoms. There have been several calls made for further legislation to require employers to put in place a workplace menopause policy to protect women going through the menopause against discrimination whilst at work.

The Government Equalities Office 2019 ‘roadmap’ on gender equality commits the Government to conduct research into “what works to improve women’s reproductive health, across the life course” and “develop indicators relating to women’s health experience and impact on their work.” The Government has also recently sought views to help inform the development of a Women’s Health Strategy. This inquiry examines the extent of discrimination faced by menopausal people in the workplace, and investigates how Government policy and workplace practices can better support those experiencing menopause.

This inquiry seeks to understand the current scale of mental health need in prisons, and to identify what support exists and whether there are any gaps in provision.

Read the call for evidence to find out more about the inquiry.

Awareness of the mental health problems affecting men and boys has increased in recent years, and it is recognised as a serious issue:

• According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), three out of four people who take their own lives are men (75%); this is the biggest cause of death for men under 50 in England and Wales
• 12.5% of men in England are suffering from one of the common mental health disorders (NHS Digital)
• Men are three times more likely than women to become alcohol dependent (Health and Social Care Information Centre)
• In a survey conducted for the Men’s Health Forum, 12% of men said that the last time they took time off work to see a GP was because they were “constantly feeling stressed or under pressure” and 11% because of “prolonged feelings of sadness.”

The Defence Committee is holding an evidence session on military exercises and the duty of care. This session was postponed due to the General Election and is now being revisited by the newly constituted Defence Committee.

In 2016 the Defence Committee published a report "Beyond Endurance? Military exercises and the duty of care". This report examined the overarching policies and guidance of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Armed Forces in respect of the health and safety of service personnel during training, exercises and selection events and whether effective processes existed for learning the lessons from accidents and deaths that occurred during such events.

An initial follow-up evidence session was held in November 2016. This second follow-up session will focus on what has been achieved since the publication of the Committee’s report in 2016. It will consider whether the actions taken have addressed the concerns raised in the initial report, whether lessons have been learnt, whether a culture of continual learning exists and what scope there is for further improvement.

The Commitee will condsider new evidence, which can be submited till the deadline Thursday 9 April 2020. There is no need to resubmit previous written evidence.

The Environment and Climate Change Committee is exploring behaviour change in the context of climate change (mitigation and adaptation) and the environment (e.g. biodiversity, water, waste & the circular economy and air pollution). The main focus of the inquiry is on behaviour change, though not in isolation, as the Committee is also interested in the wider conditions needed for people to make changes and the sequencing of related policy measures. The Committee has issued a call for evidence with a deadline of Monday 13 December 2021, and will also be gathering oral evidence.

The Committee will take evidence on the NAO’s report on the annual Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan. The Equipment plan sets out the MoD’s intended investment in equipment and support projects over the next 10 years . Each year the NAO publishes a report, published in parallel with the MoD report, setting out the C&AG’s view on the robustness of the plan’s underlying assumptions and an assessment of the plan’s affordability.

The Committee will take evidence on the NAO’s report on the annual Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan. The Equipment plan sets out the MoD’s intended investment in equipment and support projects over the next 10 years . Each year the NAO publishes a report, published in parallel with the MoD report, setting out the C&AG’s view on the robustness of the plan’s underlying assumptions and an assessment of the plan’s affordability.

The Committee will question Gareth Davies, Comptroller & Auditor General, on the NAO’s Estimate 2021-22.

Lessons from implementing IR35 reforms

The Committee will question Gareth Davies, Comptroller & Auditor General, on the NAO’s Estimate 2021-22

“Off-payroll working” - known as ‘IR35’ - tax rules can apply if a worker or “contractor” provides their services to the client through their own limited company or another type of intermediary.

The rules aim to make sure that workers who would be classed as an employee if they were providing their services directly to the client pay broadly the same Income Tax and National Insurance contributions as employees.

From April 2017, public bodies became responsible for determining whether IR35 applied to contractors providing services through an intermediary, where previously the intermediary or contractor was responsible.

This reform was prompted by perceived persistent non-compliance which HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) estimated cost the exchequer £440 million a year in lost tax revenue. From April 2021, these new requirements were extended to medium and large organisations in the private and third sectors.

The Committee has previously reported on concerns that some people who had complied correctly with the IR35 rules had missed out on Covid support for those still classified for tax purposes as “self-employed”.

With the reforms now taking effect in more sectors, the Committee will question senior officials at HMRC on what lessons have been learned from the public sector implementation of the IR35 reforms.

If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by Monday 14 February 2022 18:00.

The Committee will hold a brief hearing with Gareth Davies, the Comptroller & Auditor General, and NAO executive directors. The Committee will be asking questions about the estimate which is due to be published in due course.

If you have any evidence on the NAO’s estimated expenditure in 2022-23 please submit it here by Wednesday 16 February 2022.

A Transport Select Committee inquiry to scrutinise the implementation of the Government’s national bus strategy. as set out in Bus Back Better: national bus strategy for England published in March 2021 and to examine the challenges faced by the sector as it recovers from the pandemic.

Read the call for evidence for more details on this inquiry.

The Home Office’s National Law Enforcement Data Programme was created to replace the Police National Computer, the national record of data on arrests and missing or wanted persons, and the Police National Database, which facilitates sharing of intelligence between forces.

These systems are vital to police operations and are used by all 45 police forces and many other law enforcement agencies. Early in 2021 it was reported that the Police National Computer had suffered a data loss with the accidental deletion of thousands of records.

The Committee has warned, in previous inquiries, on the Home Office’s “miserable record of exorbitantly expensive digital programmes that fail to deliver”.  It will question senior officials at the Home Office on whether National Law Enforcement Data programme is likely to meet user requirements and deliver technology that is likely to work, progress against time and budget, and the remaining risks to successful delivery.

If you have evidence on these questions please submit it here by 6.00pm on Thursday 9th September 2021

The Committee is investigating the role of nature-based solutions in mitigating climate change. The inquiry will consider how protecting, managing, and restoring natural ecosystems can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing co-benefits to people and nature. It will also examine any scientific uncertainties surrounding their effects, and barriers to their effective implementation. The Committee has issued a call for written evidence, and will be taking oral evidence in autumn 2021.

The BEIS Committee has launched a standing inquiry on the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target and the UN Climate Summits. The Committee expects this inquiry to run for the duration of this Parliament. It will consider issues including:

• Progress in delivering the UK’s 2050 net zero target; 
• Progress in cutting emissions to meet the UK’s five-yearly Carbon Budgets; 
• The role of BEIS in leading climate change mitigation policy across Government; 
• The potential role of business and industry in the net zero agenda; 
• Preparations for the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow, and the UK’s performance as Summit host; 
• The ongoing role of the UK in international climate talks and initiatives to tackle climate change. 

Background

On 27 June 2019 the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target came into force, setting a new goal to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050. The Net Zero target replaces the UK’s previous goal to reduce UK emissions by 80% by 2050, established by the Climate Change Act 2008.

The net zero target aligns UK legislation with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, as agreed by the world’s nations at the 2015 UN Climate Summit (COP21). The Paris Agreement sets an aim to limit global temperature rise to "well below 2°C" above pre-industrial levels and to "pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C".

In September 2019 the UK was awarded the Presidency of the next UN Climate Summit (COP26), in partnership with Italy. The Summit will now take place in Glasgow in November 2021.

Calls for evidence

The Committee is working with the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) on a survey of priorities for COP26, the results of which will feed into this inquiry.  As part of this exercise POST is also creating a database of COP26 experts.  This is an invitation to anyone with expertise in areas relating to COP26 to provide feedback. For more information and to take the survey please visit https://post.parliament.uk/horizon-scanning/cop26-expert-database/.

We are not currently inviting written submissions for this inquiry. As the inquiry progresses, we may issue a targeted call for evidence on a specific issue. If you would like to provide any information or have any queries regarding this inquiry please email us at beiscom@parliament.uk. 

Aviation and shipping pose major challenges to reducing emissions. Together they account for 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions and on current trends, aviation will be the largest emitting sector by 2050. The Government has set ambitious targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050 for the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping.

This inquiry will look at the ability of technologies, fuels and operational efficiencies to reduce both sector’s emissions and what Government action is needed at a national and international level to meet its stated targets.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has launched an inquiry on net zero governance, which will examine the leadership and co-ordination which will be needed by government to deliver on the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050. 

The Committee’s inquiry will examine the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s leadership role in delivering net zero, how effectively the Department is driving co-ordinated action across Whitehall and the role that devolved administrations and local and regional authorities can play. The inquiry will also examine the Government’s success in engaging with public sector bodies, regulators, businesses and citizens on net zero and the role and oversight of net zero performance metrics in Government. 

The BEIS Committee will be working closely with the Environmental Audit Committee on this inquiry and inviting guests from other select committees engaged in work on net zero.  The BEIS Committee also welcomes evidence for this inquiry on the effectiveness of current parliamentary scrutiny arrangements for climate change. 

The New Decade, New Approach agreement provided the basis for restoration of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland following a three-year period without an Executive or functioning Assembly.

The New Decade, New Approach agreement includes measures and consequent funding commitments that are intended to transform public services in Northern Ireland. It also includes initiatives to improve the scrutiny and transparency of the Northern Ireland Executive, as well as changes to improve the sustainability of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland.

As part of the New Decade, New Approach Agreement, the UK Government has made financial commitments to support government in Northern Ireland. Those measures include funding to help the Executive transform public service provision and support the health service in Northern Ireland. The UK Government has committed to providing funding of £2 billion, £1 billion of which it has described as “Barnett-based investment”.

Terms of reference

The Committee would welcome the submission of written evidence that addresses:

• whether the UK Government’s commitment of £2 billion is sufficient to transform public service provision in Northern Ireland;

• what evidence and calculations underpin the £2 billion commitment;

• how UK Government funding should be allocated to Northern Ireland and whether it should be linked to the functioning of devolved institutions in Northern Ireland;

• the potential merits and/or demerits of establishing an Independent Fiscal Council in Northern Ireland to assess the Executive’s use of public money;

• the potential effect of the New Decade, New Approach agreement on the future sustainability of devolved institutions in Northern Ireland; and

• whether the deal excludes other measures that might improve good governance in Northern Ireland.

The Justice and Home Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into the use of new technologies in law enforcement. The Committee seeks to explore the use of advanced algorithmic tools in activities to discover, deter, rehabilitate, or punish people who breach the law in England and Wales. Border management may also be under consideration. The Committee will examine the existing legal framework enabling the development of these tools, ethical issues raised by their use in law enforcement contexts, and the lived experiences of users and citizens interacting with them.

The NHS in England was running at close to maximum capacity before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has led to a sharp drop in routine NHS activity, resulting in more people waiting for treatment, and waiting for longer. 

The Committee will question the senior officials at DHSC and NHS England on the current position of NHS backlogs and waiting times following the COVID-19 pandemic, including the points at which patients wait for NHS treatment; how trends in waiting times changed before the emergence of COVID-19; and the effect that COVID-19 has had on waiting times.

If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by Wednesday 8 December.

The Committee has launched a new inquiry to examine the case for the reform of NHS litigation against a background of a significant increase in costs, and concerns that the clinical negligence process fails to do enough to encourage lessons being learnt which promote future patient safety.]

Figures show that in 2020/21, £2.26bn was spent from the NHS budget to settle claims and pay legal costs arising from clinical negligence claims.  A further £7.9 billion was spent on compensation from claims settled in previous years, meaning that over £10bn of money was spent on clinical negligence claims which could have been spent on patient care. The total potential liabilities arising from all negligence claims made up to the end of 2020/21 was £82.8bn, increasing by about £5.7 bn every year. 

Prior to its collapse in March 2021, Greensill Capital was involved in the provision of a supply chain finance scheme to more quickly reimburse community pharmacies for dispensing NHS prescriptions. Greensill was also involved in a “payday” scheme that enabled employees of NHS Trusts to access their salaries early.

Following evidence from former Prime Minister David Cameron to the PAC and Treasury Committee, the NAO is conducting a review of the role of Greensill capital supply chain finance in the NHS.

The Committee will question senior officials at the Crown Commercial Service, DHSC and NHS Business Services on how Greensill became a supplier to the NHS for these schemes, how it administered these schemes and what happened when it failed in March 2021. The Committee is also concurrently investigating the wider lessons from Greensill Capital and expects to report on that inquiry shortly.

If you have any evidence on Greensill’s involvement with the NHS and its suppliers please submit it here by Monday 8 November

The House of Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee has launched a new follow-up inquiry on the implementation of the off-payroll rules in the private sector, and how these rules are working in practice.

The Office for Budget Responsibility publishes a Fiscal Risks Report every two years to identify and analyse risks to the medium-term outlook for the public finances and to long-term fiscal sustainability. After the publication of the reports, the Treasury Committee may hold sessions with the Chair of the OBR and Budget Responsibility Committee members to scrutinise the OBR’s findings.

The Committee will consider the role of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), the UK’s energy regulator, in the transition to net zero. It will consider Ofgem’s work in this area, whether changes are needed to its objectives and powers, how net zero relates to Ofgem’s other responsibilities, and Ofgem’s relationship to Government and Parliament.

Women and Equalities Committee to look at cultures underpinning male violence against women

The Women and Equalities Committee has today announced that it will look at government action to change cultures underpinning male violence against women.

The Committee met with the Minister for Safeguarding, Victoria Atkins MP, in January to discuss the forthcoming strategies on Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse, and is today publishing correspondence from the Minister following that meeting.

The issues discussed in the session and the letter cut across several policy areas:

• sexual and racialised harassment on public transport and in public places;
• harmful media images that normalise sexual and other violence;
• teaching children about respectful relationships and gender equality;
• women’s safety in the workplace; and
• funding for specialist domestic and sexual abuse support services including support for Black and minority women.

The Minister’s letter does not provide information about what mechanisms are in place to ensure Government action to prevent violence against women and girls or to ensure cross-departmental working on this issue. This is despite the UK’s commitment through the Sustainable Development Goals to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.

The Committee will look at:

• what the Government is doing to measure progress on changing attitudes and cultures that underpin or normalise male violence.
• why public prevention campaigns, including This Is Abuse/Disrespect Nobody, are much less prominent than public health and road safety campaigns?
• how is the Government taking action following its own research on engaging men and boys in gender equality and the relationship between pornography use and harmful sexual behaviours?

Committee Chair Caroline Nokes MP said:

“This is a distressing time for everyone – both women and men – who believe that women and girls have the right to live their lives in freedom and without the threat or reality of violence.

“The Government has made long-standing commitments to take all measures to eliminate violence against women and girls and we will be asking how they are doing this.

“Our session will focus on how to change cultures and attitudes that underpin male violence.”

Notes:

The Women and Equalities Committee’s predecessor committee published a series of reports on sexual harassment and recommendations to the Government on prevention.

The Sub-Committee will investigate how focus has shifted since the introduction of the Online Safety Strategy Green Paper in 2017, including concerns that the definition of harm is now too narrow and may fail to address issues such as non-state intervention in elections, racist abuse and content that contributes to self-harm and negative body image. It will also explore key omissions of the draft Bill, such as a general duty for tech companies to deal with reasonably foreseeable harms, a focus on transparency and due process mechanisms or regulatory powers to deal with urgent security threats and how any gaps can be filled before the Bill is finalised. Another focus will be on where lessons can be learnt from international efforts to regulate big tech, such as in France, Germany and Australia.

This inquiry by the House of Commons DCMS Sub-Committee is distinct from any work by the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, established by the House of Lords and the House of Commons on 23 July. 

This short inquiry seeks to understand how digital technology has affected the way that the media and the public access and report on the courts.

Read the call for evidence to find out more about this inquiry.

The session will consider the role of the Armed Forces in countering Channel crossings by migrants (Op Isotrope), and the wider implications for Defence, including what assets will be used, who will pay for them, how success will be measured and what the chain of command and reporting arrangements will be.