Encyclopedia > List of Committees of the United Kingdom Parliament
The BritishParliament (that is, the Houses of Commons and Lords) has a number of Committees – small numbers of members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues; most are made up of members of the Commons.
Select Committees
The Commons has Select Committees responsible for overseeing the work departments and agencies, whilst the Lords has them for general issues, such as the Constitution or the economy. Both Houses have Select Committees for reviewing drafts of European directives (enacted as Statutory Instruments under the European Communities Act 1972). The Commons has Standing Committees that are tasked with the detailed analysis of individual Bills. Joint Committees are sometimes formed, from members of both the Commons and Lords.
Some of the current Committees are listed below (these lists are incomplete):
Commons
Constitutional Affairs Committee (overseeing the operations of the DCA and other agencies that report to the Lord Chancellor)
Culture, Media & Sport Committee (overseeing the operations of the DCMS)
Defence Committee (overseeing the operations of the MOD)
Education and Skills Committee (overseeing the operations of the DfES)
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (overseeing the operations of the DEFRA and associated bodies)
Foreign Affairs Committee (overseeing the operations of the FCO)
Health Committee (overseeing the operations of the DoH)
Home Affairs Committee (overseeing the operations of the HO, the CPS, and other related bodies)
International Development Committee (overseeing the operations of the DfID)
The Domestic Committees are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Palace of Westminster, including the running of the bars and supervision of security measures.
Accommodation and Works Committee
Administration Committee
Broadcasting Committee (which advises the Speaker and Commons Commission on the broadcasting of the House 's and its Committees' proceedings)
For instance, in 2004, the number of seats in the European Parliament was temporarily raised to 788 to accommodate representatives from the ten states that joined the EU on 1st May, but it was subsequently reduced to 732 following the elections in June.
Thus the European Parliament is sometimes informally referred to as the 'Strasbourg Parliament' and Strasbourg as the democratic (opposed to bureaucratic) capital of Europe.
Moreover, the European Parliament´s secretariat (administration), which employs the majority of its staff, is located in Luxembourg, which itself used to host plenary sessions of the parliament.
Universal adult suffrage prevails; citizens of the UnitedKingdom, as well as citizens of the Republic of Ireland and of Commonwealth nations resident in the UnitedKingdom, are qualified to vote.
Parliament controls the executive by passing or rejecting its Bills and by forcing Ministers of the Crown to answer for their actions, either at "Question Time" or during meetings of the parliamentary committees.
List of Parliamentary constituencies in the UnitedKingdom
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