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Departmental select committees are now the principal mechanism through which the House of Commons holds the executive to account. Ten years ago the Hansard Societys Commission on Parliamentary Scrutiny (the Newton Commission) recommended a series of reforms to select committees including the introduction of core tasks. A decade on, however, many new demands have since been placed on committees, public expectation of them has been heightened, and yet resources are finite and will come under increasing pressure in the future as a result of budget cuts. As recommended at the end of the last Parliament by the Commons Liaison Committee, the time has therefore come to review the core tasks and the role and operation of select committees. This article outlines issues that such a review should explore in order to ensure further development of systematic departmental scrutiny and to make the most effective use of committee time and resources. It argues that select committees themselves need to be more accountable to MPs and the public and to be more self-critical about what they do and how they do it.
