Submitting evidence to a Select Committee

By Sarah Mills, Loughborough University

 

In the UK, both the House of Commons and House of Lords lead and work with Select Committees. These are an important way that researchers, including geographers, can and do submit evidence from their research to UK Parliament.

A Select Committee is a small group of MPs and/or members of the Lords from different political parties who are tasked with exploring a timely topic that either has a UK focus or international policy relevance. There is a Select Committee to examine the work of every government department (via House of Commons) as well as ‘permanent’ and ‘special’ inquiries (usually via House of Lords). Most of the ‘permanent’ committees cover topics that geographers are well placed to contribute on (eg the Environment and Climate Change Committee) and special inquiries cover a wide range of geographical themes (eg Citizenship and Civic Engagement or Rural Economy). You can browse the latest Select Committees and sign-up for regular alerts when new calls for evidence are announced.

A Select Committee process usually begins with a call for written evidence. This is an open call for short written submissions from researchers, organisations, and members of the public, in response to set questions they are investigating. If these questions relate to your research expertise, you should strongly consider submitting written evidence; the whole process can be very engaging and worthwhile. You should answer the relevant questions in short paragraphs with indicative supporting evidence or examples, and if you can, include links to any publications or reports. You can still submit evidence even if your work only relates to one of a Select Committee’s published questions. In my experience, it is best to focus on the key areas where you can really support an answer and preferably any recommendations. Most calls for written evidence will have clear formatting guidelines and most submissions are only a few pages in length. It is always useful to include a short biography at the beginning of your submission including contact details and relevant links.

After a Select Committee has considered the written evidence, they usually organise sessions to hear oral evidence and so you may be invited to UK Parliament. These sessions give members of the Select Committee an opportunity to ask any follow-up questions about your written submission, or to discuss the Committee’s work. Your support will be welcomed and eventually the Select Committee will produce a public report. This output will often be written by an academic who has been appointed to work with the Committee and synthesise the most relevant evidence into clear findings and recommendations for UK Government. It can therefore be an important potential pathway to impact from your research, as most Select Committee reports require a formal response from government. Furthermore, all written evidence submissions made to a Select Committee become available online after their work has finished, which can be a great way to share your research findings with a wider engaged audience, even if you are not called to give oral evidence or cited in the final report.

One way to begin engaging in parliamentary spaces and to hear about the work of Select Committees is to contact and attend events of an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). These are cross-party groups focused on a particular topic, such as ‘Air Pollution’, ‘Energy Security’, ‘Political Literacy’ or ‘Race Equality in Education’. There are also APPGs about most countries worldwide, with a register of all APPGs regularly updated here. These Groups are primarily formed of MPs and Members of the House of Lords, and sometimes co-ordinated by a relevant charity or organisation. APPGs sometimes have Academic Advisory Groups, but even without these, many APPGs look for new evidence and reports from researchers to cite within their own submissions to a relevant Select Committee. More broadly, their events are a fantastic way to get involved in a network of engaged organisations and individuals interested in the same topic and advocacy for political or policy change. APPGs usually have several meetings a year and are keen to hear from academics as potential guest speakers. With around 750 APPGs at the time of writing, there is genuinely one out there for every geographer!

Overall, engaging with UK Parliament via Select Committees and an APPG has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career to date. I strongly encourage you to get involved where possible and to share your research through this wider democratically engaged process to reach new audiences.
 

Key points

• Sign-up for email alerts about new calls for evidence from relevant Select Committees.

• Consult examples of written and oral evidence on the UK Parliament website and read their guidance on giving evidence to Commons or Lords Select Committees.

• Reach out to an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) linked to your research topic to learn more about the parliamentary process, as well as gaining a valuable network.

 

How to cite

Mills, S. (2023) Submitting evidence to a Select Committee. Communicating research beyond the academy. Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Guide. Available at: https://doi.org/10.55203/DHKB8409