Education & Skills Select Committee

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The Education & Skills Select Committee is a Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The proper name is the House of Commons, Education and Skills Committee.

1 Remit
2 Inquiries
3 Chair
4 Members
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Remit

The Education and Skills Committee is one of the House of Commons Select Committees related to government departments: its terms of reference are to examine "the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and Skills and its associated public bodies".

The Committee chooses its own subjects of inquiry, within the overall terms of reference. It invites written evidence from interested parties and holds public evidence sessions, usually in committee rooms at the House of Commons, although it does have the power to meet away from Westminster.

At the end of each inquiry, the Committee will normally agree a Report based on the evidence received. Such Reports are published and made available on the internet. Reports usually contain recommendations to the Government and other bodies. The Government by convention responds to reports within about two months of publication. These responses are also published.

[edit] Inquiries

The Committee can examine any area of work related to the Department for Education and Skills and its associated public bodies, such as the Learning and Skills Council and Ofsted.

An inquiry into school bullying begins in October 2006.

Recent inquiries have focused on

Citizenship education
Prison education
Further education
Special Educational Needs
Secondary education
Teaching children to read

[edit] Chair

Barry Sheerman MP has been Chair of the Committee since 2001. He succeeded Malcolm Wicks MP who became a government minister in the Department for Education and Skills.

[edit] Members

Members are appointed by the full house on the nomination of the Committee of Selection, and should be representative of the state of political parties in the House of Commons. Members receive an extra allowance on top of their salaries for select committee duties.

The current membership (as appointed July 2006) is as follows:

[edit] Trivia

During the committee's inquiry into prison education in 2005, the committee held a formal evidence session at Feltham Young Offenders Institution in West London.