Select Committee Research Articles

Tobacco Industry Engagement in the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee E-cigarettes Inquiry

Background: A now extensive literature has documented political strategies of healthharming industries (HHIs), but little is known about their engagement with Parliamentary select committees. Recent investments by trans-national tobacco corporations (TTCs) in electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has raised concerns that industry actors may be using these to re-engage policymakers in ways precluded by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3. Methods: This article examines tobacco industry engagement with the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (STC) inquiry into electronic cigarettes. It draws on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with committee members and support staff (n=4) triangulated against written and oral evidence submissions. Results: TTCs featured prominently in the STC inquiry via written and oral submissions. Opportunities existed for industry engagement, and potential influence, at each stage of the process. There was an absence of oral testimony from those sceptical about the potential health benefits of ENDS. The governance mechanisms in place for select committees appear inadequate for protecting committee work from industry influence. As it relates to TTCs, this has implications for the UK’s commitments under FCTC Article 5.3, yet understanding of the FCTC and the requirements of Article 5.3 compliance within the committee were limited. Conclusion: The governance of select committees requires urgent reform in order to balance norms of openness and participation with the need to protect their work from power of economic actors with conflicts of interest. This is particularly the case in relation to TTCs and adherence to FCTC Article 5.3. These findings are of relevance to other select committees whose work affects the interests of HHIs. Further research is needed on other committees and sectors.

Talking past each other: Institutional complexity in public projects

Large-scale public projects often experience delays and cost overruns, in part because they require extensive coordination between numerous organizations, both private and public. In this paper, we draw on the perspective of new institutionalism to explore differences between stakeholders in large-scale projects. We develop a topic modeling approach based on a state-of-the-art computational text analysis technique and apply it to a set of transcripts from parliamentary select committee hearings in the United Kingdom to uncover cultural-cognitive differences that reflect a variety of institutional logics. The application of this technique to four different projects reveals significant institutional differences between groups of actors. We argue that greater awareness of these institutional differences may support attempts to understand why large-scale projects experience such significant management challenges and how such challenges could be addressed. We use data for the period 2000–2019 from two different sectors, defence, and public transport.

White Nationalism, Politically Motivated Reasoning and Americans’ Attitudes About Criminally Charging Donald Trump

Abstract On 19 December 2022, the United States House Select Committee referred former president Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. Subsequently, Mr. Trump was indicted four times and charged with 91 felonies. Nevertheless, some Americans have remained steadfast in supporting him. Observers theorize that indifference to Mr. Trump’s wrongdoing reflects white nationalism and politically motivated reasoning. We test this theory using experimental data from a national survey fielded before any public hearings or charges. Our analyses reveal that Americans who endorse white nationalism and those who hold right-wing political views are more likely to oppose criminal charges. Furthermore, the relationship between white nationalism and attitudes about criminally charging Mr. Trump is indirect, through identification with the political right.

John Roundell Palmer, fourth Earl of Selborne. 24 March 1940—12 February 2021

Occasionally, the Royal Society confers a fellowship on individuals not because of distinction in any one branch of science but rather for their contribution to science as a whole. Among that select group of Fellows was John Roundell Palmer, fourth Earl of Selborne GBE DL FRS, who was elected in 1991. A member of the House of Lords for nearly 50 years, a primary focus for his work was the interface between science and technology on the one hand, and policy and legislation on the other. He was elected Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology twice, being involved in some of the defining issues in the science agenda over those times. His involvement in the horticultural and agriculture business of his family's estate in Hampshire made him aware of how science research could be of great benefit to the agricultural sector and society at large. His interest led to his becoming the chair of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), where his ability to achieve a consensus between people with diverse views enabled complex projects to progress. He joined the House of Lords in 1971 as a hereditary peer. In addition, he used his skills and wide-ranging interests to engage with a range of bodies across different sectors. He was at different times: President of the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers (IBG)); Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Chancellor of the University of Southampton; Chair of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Master of the Mercers’ Company; member of the Board of Lloyds Bank plc; Chair of Living with Environmental Change; Chair of the Foundation for Science and Technology; and chair or adviser to many other organizations. His contribution to the dialogue between science policy and society was recognized by the award of KBE in 1987 and GBE in 2011.

Commentary on the senate select committee into the provision of and access to dental services in Australia: an opportunity for reform.

A recent Senate Select Committee has tabled its report into the provision of and access to dental care in Australia. The Senate Committee heard: There are significant barriers for many people accessing dental care, including high costs, trauma and fear, long waiting times and inaccessible services. There are service gaps, including a lack of special needs dentists, limited mobile services, very few Aboriginal dentists and sparse services in regional areas. There are significant impacts of poor oral health, including pain and suffering, shame and low self-esteem, poor nutrition and poorer general health. There are benefits to good oral health, including the ability to smile, eat and talk, improved confidence, increased productivity and being more employable. There were 35 recommendations for reform centred around the need to put the mouth back in the body and covered by five broad themes: More equitable access. Better integration. National data and coordination. Awareness and education. Culturally safe and accessible care. This paper provides an overview of the problem and focuses on the recommended funding reforms necessary to improve access to dental care.

Democracy without curriculum: how unschooling contributes to a home education rooted in democracy and agency for young people

It is widely accepted that young people’s lives are more complex than ever before and this complexity is making classroom life difficult for many. In response, around 30,000 Australian young people are choosing home education (Moir & English, 2022). While many consider home educators to be ideologically inflexible and religiously fundamental, this stereotype does not reflect the Australian home education movement (Moir & English, 2022; English, 2021a, 2021b). Indeed, many parents are making a “choice without markets” (Aurini & Davis, 2005), attempting to address the top-down, centralised and inflexible curriculum increasingly found in schools (English, 2021a, 2021b, Van Galen, 1991). This paper explores the democratic potential of unschooling, a widely adopted, but frequently misunderstood, approach to home education that has, at its heart, a democratic educational approach rooted in agency (Romero, 2018; Riley, 2021). Unschooling moves beyond civics and citizenship to a lived experience of democracy for young people. Through an analysis of extant home education literature as well as data from the inquiry into homeschooling from the New South Wales upper house (Select Committee into Home Schooling, 2014) we propose that the greatest threat to democracy for change in curriculum is too much regulatory control over home education while the greatest benefit of unschooling is its emphasis on participatory democracy and agency for young people.

A partner, not a combatant: the U.S. Congress, intelligence reform, and civil liberties after Vietnam

ABSTRACT In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, scholars and commentators concerned about civil liberties looked back to the 1970s with an air of nostalgia. Back then, they argued, Congress exposed and constrained executive abuses of civil liberties, most notably through the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (the ‘Church Committee’) and the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); whereas, since 9/11, Congress has largely accepted a variety of constitutionally dubious activities as part of the ‘War on Terror.’ This article argues that these accounts get the history wrong. Drawing on the Church Committee’s hearings and reports, internal executive branch communications, and the legislative history of FISA, it makes three core claims. First, the Church Committee was more valuable as a source of historical documentation rather than real-time exposure. Second, executive officials took crucial steps towards intelligence reform before the Church Committee was established. Third, the two legislative fruits of the Church Committee – FISA and the creation of permanent intelligence committees in Congress – were forged in a cooperative, rather than adversarial interbranch environment. Thus, the post-Vietnam Congress is best described as a partner, rather than a combatant, in the process of intelligence reform.

Tragedy and comedy, outrage and reconciliation: exploring the insurrection of January 6, 2021, through Burkean frames

ABSTRACT In this article, I rhetorically analyze the Final Report by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 th Attack on the United States Capitol, released in January 2023, as a jumping off point to explore possible limitations of and opportunities for rhetorical responses to political crises in the wider U.S. public discourse. In contrast to the Report’s tragic centering of Trump as agent, I argue that using a comic frame in the wider political discourse could help bring the scene, or the state of democracy, to a place of interrogation, and allow for a broader accounting of agents and agency, as well as their relationships to one another. Rather than deny an ultimate reckoning of a tragic situation, this article examines the importance of comic processing in service of elevated democratic discourse. By providing a space to reinterpret and resituate the pentadic motives underlying an act of democratic crisis like the insurrection, a comic frame’s pentadic vision can potentially open up new and transformative ways of understanding citizens’ public selves, their political relationships, and democracy, while still allowing for the expression of warrantable outrage.

Spotlight interview: How well is the careers advice system meeting children's needs?

Robin Walker MP, chair of the education select committee, speaks to Derren Hayes about the inquiry into careers education and the need to improve support for disadvantaged learners

NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry: What Midwives Need to Know

In June 2023, the New South Wales (NSW) Upper House launched a Select Committee inquiry into birth trauma. Public submissions were sought and over a period of weeks. There were over 4,000 submissions from individuals and organisations. This was followed by four days of public hearings in Sydney, Wollongong and Wagga Wagga, where the Select Committee heard from a variety of women sharing their birth trauma stories, plus consumer activist organisations and representatives from NSW Health. In this article, I give a first-hand, reflective account including an overview of the inquiry and how it ultimately impacts midwives. This article has been independently reviewed prior to publication.

Consumer Advocacy Groups: A Voice for Survivors in the NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry

In this article Sharon Settecasse, co-founder of Better Births Illawarra (BBI), reflects on the role BBI played in encouraging, supporting and advocating for women during the New South Wales (NSW) Select Committee inquiry into birth trauma. From informative social media posts to sitting with women in their kitchen helping them write their submission, BBI played a vital role in advocating for the women of the Illawarra, NSW.

Our Voices are Important

Submitting my story to the New South Wales Select Committee inquiry into birth trauma was something I wanted to do in order to see changes implemented across the hospital system, not only for mothers but also for care providers. The birth of my first son in July 2020 was not only traumatic but also left me with emotional and physical scars which changed my faith in the hospital system and changed my faith in my body and its ability to birth unassisted, which is something I yearned for.

Parliamentary Institutional Reforms in Malaysia: The Case of the Pakatan Harapan Era, 2018–2020

The parliamentary institution is the nation’s highest legislative body in a democratic system, where it enacts, amends, and approves federal laws, examines government policies and approves government spending. However, in Malaysia, during the Barisan Nasional (BN) era, this institution was frequently criticised due to its numerous flaws. Among them were executive control over parliamentary institutions, disregard for the opposition’s role and unequal development provision between government and opposition parliamentarians. Therefore, during the 14th General Election (GE14) campaign, Pakatan Harapan (PH) promised to implement parliamentary reforms, and that pledge carried PH to victory in the GE14. This article utilised the concept of institutional reform as a tool of analytics to discuss parliamentary institutional reforms during the PH’s governmental term from 2018 to 2020. The primary sources of this study were interviews and secondary sources, which were obtained through books, journals and newspapers. This article argues that the PH government has successfully implemented several parliamentary institutional reforms in only 22 months. The reforms were the reform of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the establishment of more parliamentary select committees, the restructuring of constituency development funds for members of parliament (MPs) and the appointment of non-partisan speakers. All these reforms have benefited Malaysia’s parliamentary institutions by increasing the role of the opposition, allocating fair constituency development funds to parliamentarians and improving the parliamentary image. Nevertheless, comprehensive reforms were not implemented because the PH government was ousted from power at the end of February 2020 because of the actions of several PH MPs who defected from the party.

Conjuring Up a King

Conjuring Up a King

Songwriters vs. the recording industry: the use and abuse of statistics in UK streaming debates

AbstractIn Britain, the Select Committee of the government department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has investigated the economics of streaming and recommended that the share of revenues for record companies should decrease so that songwriters can earn more. This article addresses lobbying activity that has resulted from this recommendation. To support their causes, songwriter representatives and record company organisations have made incorrect or misleading use of data from the report Music Creators’ Earnings in the Digital Age. This article looks at the impact of these uses and provides corrections and alternatives to the statistics that have been employed. It also looks at the importance of the issues that have been raised. In conclusion, it addresses aspects of record company accounting that will need to be considered if an increase for songwriters is to be made at their expense.

One-sided portrayal: Singapore media discourse of social scientists’ roles

ABSTRACT This article analyses the gap between the news media’s and scholars’ portrayals of social scientists’ roles in Singapore. It adopts a media representation theoretical framework, undertaking a media discourse analysis of the Singapore Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehood between January 2018 and October 2019. Findings show the media’s consistent depiction of the instrumental roles of social scientists via avoidance of academic language and social-political critiques. The article argues that Singapore’s news media portrayal emphasises the instrumental orientation of social scientists’ roles. The study contributes a social-cultural account in the Singapore context, reframing the media representation framework that has hitherto been understood from a Western perspective.

Education Select Committee Inquiry

In the last session of the Education Select Committee's inquiry into support for childcare and the early years, the Committee quizzed the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho MP. Sue Cowley summarises the fifth and final oral evidence session.

“Stop the Steal”: Racial Resentment, Affective Partisanship, and Investigating the January 6th Insurrection

Our analysis of data from a nationally representative survey of adults shows that beliefs in whether the January 6th insurrection was justifiable and whether it required investigation through the creation of the U.S. House Select Committee are inexorably steeped in affective partisanship and racial resentment. It is easy to attribute the insurrection to partisan machinations, but evidence shows that racial resentment is the dominant explanation: this includes the fact that allegations of election fraud were centered on districts with large African American and Latino populations; that many of the insurrectionists were white nationalists, racists, and members of radical right-wing groups; and that a large proportion of the electorate had voted to retain a president who fueled whites’ sense of victimization by African Americans and other minorities. We argue that reactions to the legitimacy of the January 6th insurrection have become an example of how racial resentment fuels affective partisanship.

House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol

It’s finally here—the January 6th report, or its full title, Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol. This report might not be what you expect: it focuses far more on the 2020 election and electoral law than the Wednesday in January 2021 when a mob of armed and angry citizens breached the Capitol building. The crux of the report, instead, is a meticulous compilation of activities by the Trump administration leading up to the 6th, involving memos, tweets, office politics, allegations of election fraud, and attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Through its intense level of detail, extensive endnotes, and frequent appeals to bipartisanship, the report aims to demonstrate transparency in order to assure anyone who needs it of the integrity of the 2020 election.

Sistem Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas di Dewan Rakyat, Parlimen Malaysia: Penilaian Kritikal terhadap Instrumen Semak dan Imbang Legislatif

The core functions of parliament, namely, legislative, oversight and representative, reflect the significant contribution of parliament institutions to the overall governance of the country. These roles add value to the Executive’s activities while at the same time legitimising their actions. The role of parliament in ensuring good governance is manifested through the representation function and the government’s accountability in parliament. This paper aims to examine the role of checks and balances in the legislature through the Special Select Committee System in the Dewan Rakyat, Parliament of Malaysia. The paper first gives a brief overview of the background of the establishment of the current Special Select Committee System in the Dewan Rakyat, followed by a comparison with select committee systems in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Next, this paper analyses the strength and possible improvements of the Special Select Committee System before concluding with serious considerations for its strengthening as a way forward for the realisation of the Special Select Committee System for legislative bodies in Malaysia.