REVIEW OF SELECT COMMITTEES

Early day motion 760, tabled 3 March 2004 by Oliver Heald (Conservative). Signed by 99 members.

That this House expresses its concern that select committees are not able to obtain from the Government the documents and witnesses necessary in order to fulfil their role of scrutinizing the Executive; notes the comments of the honourable Member for Thurrock in the debate on the Hutton Report when he said that Lord Hutton had been able to cross-examine John Scarlet in public, but the Foreign Affairs Committee was refused access to him, and that they had been refused the drafts of the September dossier but Lord Hutton published them on the worldwide web; and calls on the Leader of the House to institute a major review into the way in which Government and ministers treat select committees and the provisions of the Osmotherly Rules and the Ministerial Code.

Signatures by party: Conservative 93, Liberal Democrat 3, Independent Conservative 1, Scottish National Party 1, UUP 1.