Week ahead in committees

The end of the parliamentary year may be looming, but the select committees are still hard at work, with a galaxy of promising looking evidence sessions scheduled for this week.

Everything from specific scandals to controversies around current legislation to big-picture policy is under the microscope. There don't seem to be many big-name ministers stalking the committee corridor, but there's still plenty to chew on....

Monday

Concerns raised by whistleblowers about the out-of-hours GP service in Cornwall are the subject of the Public Accounts Committee (at 3.15pm). There were claims that the service, run by Serco had been unable to fill shifts with appropriately qualified staff, making it unsafe. But a clinical review in June 2012 found no evidence of that. Chair of the Committee, Margaret Hodge asked the National Audit Office to look into it - and the committee will hear from Serco and local NHS officials.

The Transport Committee (at 4.05pm) continues its look at the work of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) which monitors the roadworthiness of large vehicles like HGVs, buses etc. The latest witnesses, Beverley Bell, the Senior Traffic Commissioner; VOSA Chief Executive Alastair Peoples and Transport Minister Stephen Hammond can expect cross examination about the effectiveness of the system in dealing with foreign vehicles and school buses - especially now much of its work is contracted out.

The super-committee on the National Security Strategy (at 4.30pm) which consists of high powered select committee chairs and senior ex-ministers, with former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett in the chair, will take evidence from leading policy wonks on how the UK's National Security Strategy fits in with the activities of the EU and NATO. The cast list includes uber-pundit Charles Grant, of the Centre for European Reform, Dr Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, director of the Paris Office, German Marshall Fund, and Dr Nicolai von Ondarza, Senior Associate, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs).

It's seconds out at the Science and Technology Committee (at 5.15pm) as campaigner and science writer Ben Goldacre enters the ring with with big pharma-companies he has harried, like GlaxoSmithKline and Roche. They'll do battle over the need for increased transparency in clinical trials - do the companies use their data selectively to hype new drugs? There'll be two panels of witnesses: the first panel will include, the Medical Research Council, Association of Medical Research Charities, Cancer Research UK, and Wellcome Trust.

Tuesday

The Justice Committee (at 9.30am) investigates how the government should cater for the growing numbers of older prisoners in our jails - a consequence of increasing life expectancy when "a life sentence means life". The witnesses include Nick Hardwick, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter McParlin, the National Chairman of the Prison Officers Association, and Nigel Newcomen, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman plus independent prison scrutineers, and academics.

Should a black box in your home be able to control your fridge or freezer or other appliances, to help the nation manage its energy demand? The Energy and Climate Change Committee (at 9.30am) looks at the rise of the smart meter - these devices could help the National Grid cope with demand surges, for example at half time in some football international, when half the nation puts the kettle on.

In those circumstances it could switch off freezers for a few minutes, without doing any harm, and so avoid the need for expensive and often environmentally harmful standby generators to come on line. But some find this idea a bit Orwellian and the committee will hear from campaigners, consumer groups and business.

It's one for the economists - but the answers matter for everyone at the Treasury Committee (at 10am). They're looking into Quantitative Easing - the monetary policy which the Bank of England and the government are using to combat the recession. Expert witnesses weight the implications.

With the Commons committee stage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill - the measure to allow gay marriage - now complete, the joint Committee on Human Rights (2.15pm) is giving it the once over. They'll hear from Baroness O'Neill, the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Chris Professor McCrudden, of Blackstone Chambers, the lawyer who advised the Roman Catholic Church on the bill. He has already given evidence to the bill committee about concerns around the implications for Roman Catholic Schools and for teachers.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (3pm) looks at the horsemeat scandal in its food contamination inquiry. This session hears from the Irish Republic's Food Safety Authority, and committee members will be keen to discover the exact circumstances around the decision to act against particular companies and get some estimate of how long horsemeat had been included in products.

This is an early hearing in what could be a protracted inquiry. The committee is already hearing rumours of a tangle of family, EU, ministerial and business relationships touching the horsemeat scandal, and is trying to get a number of individuals to appear before it. Some are not UK citizens, but MPs hope those who work for British companies and will give evidence.

The Home Affairs Committee has a triple-headed session. At 2.45pm they quiz expert witnesses on e-Crime. Then they turn to leadership and standards in the police, with evidence from Commander Dal Babu, a senior Muslim officer in the Metropolitan police who won a landmark case against the Met over discrimination because of his faith, and Mike Fuller, Britain's first black Chief Constable. Then, at 4.15pm the committee turns to the implications for the Home Affairs area of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union.

The witnesses are the Bulgarian Ambassador, Konstantin Dimitrov, Dr Ion Jinga, the Romanian Ambassador, followed by Mark Harper, the immigration minister.

The Defence Committee (at 3.30pm) continues its look at the deal given to service personnel, in its inquiry into the Armed Forces Covenant in Action. They've been focusing on education - do the children of service families, which may be moved to new quarters at short notice, lose out in the race for places at the best schools? Mark Francois MP, minister of state for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, gives evidence.

Update: Eagle-eyed Health Committee member Barbara Keeley spotted that I'd failed to mention their important evidence session on the Mid Staffs NHS Trust inquiry, with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Una O'Brien, the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health. Given the magnitude of the Mid Staffs scandal, this will be a major event (starts at 2.30pm).

Wednesday

It's a very full and busy committee day, opening with the Science and Technology Committee (9am) which gets down wid da kidz by inviting Twitter users to suggest questions for the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Mark Walport, when he appears before them... via the hashtag #askUKScienceChief .

The Public Administration (9.30am) has a session on migration statistics which should not be nearly as dry as it sounds. The issue range from whether the government's estimates of migration are good enough, to whether the figures should be used to direct more public money towards areas with high numbers of new arrivals. The witnesses include Dr Scott Blinder of the Migration Observatory, Councillor Philippa Roe, the leader of Westminster City Council and assorted experts.

Is the government getting academy schools right? The Education Committee (9.30am) has a session with members of the high-powered Academies Commission set up by the Royal Society for the Arts to look at the implications of the drive towards a fully academised system - and which questioned if it was justified by the evidence. Expect considerable discussion of the issues around autonomy, centralisation, governance and collaboration in the English school system.

The Transport Committee (at 10am) still has its teeth firmly sunk into the debacle over the West Coast Main Line. And following recent announcements by the government on the future of the rail franchising system, they'll be hearing from the Minister for Rail, Simon Burns.

The Defence Committee (10.30am) is looking at big picture defence policy with expert witnesses Lord Hennessy, Professor Julian Lindley-French and General Mungo Melvin. The coalition's first defence review came under heavy criticism - this session looks to the next big set of policy questions about the future size and shape of the UK's armed forces.

Could the government save money and deliver more if its various arms could work better together? The Public Accounts Committee (2.15pm) has a session on the Integration of public services/Community Budgets - informed by two National Audit Office reports on measuring the costs of budgets and on integration across government.

The committee will hear from witnesses from local councils and central government - including Sir Bob Kerslake, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Having reported on dog control and welfare in February, the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee (3pm) will be looking at the government's Draft Dangerous Dogs (Amendment) Bill, to see whether it implements their recommendations. ACPO and all the leading pet charities give evidence. Elsewhere, the European Scrutiny Committee (2.30pm) has another bunch of journalists before it as it continues its inquiry into the, er, European Scrutiny system in the House of Commons; ie, itself.

Anoraks will be worn at the Procedure Committee (3.05pm) where they're probing the mysteries of the Commons Early Day Motion. Are these motions (which are never debated, but which MPs can sign up to, to signal their support), just "parliamentary graffiti", or do they serve a purpose useful enough to justify the expense. Backbenchers Graham Evans, Robert Halfon and Sarah Wollaston give evidence.

Thursday

The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (10am) is looking at the efforts being made to ensure that the planned switch to Individual Electoral Registration doesn't result in lots of people losing the right to vote.

Under the current system, heads of household fill out a form listing all those entitled to vote who live under their roof. But Parliament has voted to bring in a new system switching the responsibility to register to each individual. When this was tried in Northern Ireland, it resulted in a sharp drop in the numbers registered to vote - so the committee will be looking at the outcome of pilot schemes which have tried to track elusive voters through data-matching with, for example benefit payments and council tax information.

They'll be asking Jenny Watson, the chair of the Electoral Commission, how the government can ensure that people who are not picked up through data matching are not lost from the register, how the Electoral Commission will be supporting Electoral Registration Officers during the switch to IER and whether the uncertainty about the end of the transition period for IER poses any problems.

Lord Tony Hall, the new Director-General of the BBC, makes his debut before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (10.30) alongside Lord Patten, the chair of the Board of Trustees.

Given that it was an appearance before this committee that put the skids under his short-lived predecessor; this will be quite an occasion. Expect questions about Panorama's North Korea documentary, the Jimmy Savile saga, the appointment of Labour former Culture Secretary James Purnell to a top BBC job, and about Lord Hall's own appointment.

And watch out for a rematch between Lord Patten and committee member Phillip Davies, after their entertaining spat at their last encounter. It will be interesting to see if the committee concentrates on current headlines or whether it looks, at all, at the big strategic issues confronting a licence fee-funded state broadcaster, in a fast-changing media environment.