Week ahead in committees

In the brief interlude between the Queen's Speech and the Whitsun recess, the select committees are cramming in a fair amount of activity on an impressive array of subjects.

My two picks of the week are the Human Rights Committee session on the Same Sex Marriage Bill (Tuesday), and the Public Accounts Committee hearing on tax avoidance, on Thursday.

There have already been fireworks at that inquiry and more can be expected. But practically every committee seems to be doing something significant and even the internal Commons stuff - on IPSA and empowering MPs - could generate interesting results.

Here's the week's rundown:

Monday

The Communities and Local Government Committee (at 1.45pm) is off to Leeds' town hall to gather evidence about the private rented housing sector. A key issue will be the impact large student populations - so called 'studentification'. The witnesses include local councils and the National Union of Students.

There's another public spending fiasco before the Public Accounts Committee (at 3.15pm) - the attempt to create a new regionalised Fire Control system. The National Audit Office, the government spending watchdog, has said in a recent memorandum to the committee that the project was terminated in December 2010 with none of the original objectives achieved, and a minimum of £469m being wasted. Permanent Secretary at the Communities and Local Government Department, Sir Bob Kerslake, gives evidence alongside senior fire officers.

The Transport Committee (at 4.05pm) continues looking at access to transport for people with disabilities including the record of the aviation sector. And the government's key backroom machinery of government minister, Paymaster General Francis Maude, gives evidence to the Public Administration Committee on the future of the civil service and government procurement (at 4.45pm)

Tuesday

It's a frenetic day on the committee corridor, with all manner of important hearings. Perhaps the day's biggest is the Joint Committee on Human Rights' hearing (at 2.15pm) with equalities minister Maria Miller on Same Sex Marriage. The committee will be examining the human rights ramifications of the current bill - including whether teachers and registrars will be required to act against their consciences. Given the kicking the bill received when it was discussed by the Lords during their debates on the Queen's Speech debate, the views from the peers on the committee could be an interesting pointer to the level of resistance it will encounter when it reaches the Upper House - it's due to have its second reading there on 3 June.

Is the Olympic legacy now boosting school sports? The Education Committee (at 9.30am) hears from Sport England, the Association for Physical Education, the Sport and Recreation Alliance and three Olympians - Jonathan Edwards, Lynne Hutchinson, and Rachel Smith. Meanwhile the Justice Committee's inquiry (at 9.30) into older prisoners continues with evidence from psychiatrists, GPs and the Offender Health Research Network. And the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's inquiry into support for the creative industries (at 10.30) reaches its grand finale with Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and Business Innovation and Skills Minister Viscount Younger.

It was the subject of an epic parliamentary battle, so how's the much-amended 2012 Health and Social Care Act working out in practice? The Health Committee (at 9.30pm) gets the latest analysis from the King's Fund, the Nuffield Trust, and NHS clinical commissioners. On an equally tekky note, the Treasury Committee (at 10.15am) continues its inquiry into quantitative easing with former members of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, Andrew Sentance and Kate Barker.

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts gives evidence to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (at 11.30am) on the government's open access policy - the attempt to make publicly-funded research available, free, to the, er, public.

The inquest into the horsemeat scandal continues, when the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee (at 2.30pm) quizzes Freeza Meats Ltd and the Food Standards Agency. And the Home Affairs Committee (at 2.45pm) takes evidence on leadership and standards in the police from a series of the new Police and Crime Commissioners for various forces . They also hear from Tom Winsor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

The Scottish Affairs Committee (2.30pm) continues its scrutiny of the implications of independence or - as the committee makes a point of calling it, "separation". This week they hold two sessions on what will happen to pensions in the event of a Scotland leaving the UK. (There's a second hearing on this subject with HM Treasury on Wednesday at 2.30pm.)

One for the Westminster insiders will be the Speaker's Committee on IPSA meeting (3.45pm) to vet IPSA's draft budget for 2013-14. The IPSA politbureau, the chair, Professor Ian Kennedy and chief exec, Andrew MacDonald, hate figures to most MPs, will give evidence. Bring popcorn.

Wednesday

The Science and Technology Committee (at 9.15am) is looking at clinical trials - including the problem of recruiting people to be test subjects for new treatments. And Education Secretary Michael Gove gives evidence to the Education Committee (at 9.30am) on his efforts to improve school accountability, strengthen the qualifications system and reform the curriculum.

The Public Accounts Committee (2.15pm) takes evidence on the payment scheme to compensate people victims of the implosion of the pensions provider, Equitable Life, continuing this long running saga. The National Audit Office says that not enough preparation was done in the short lead up to the scheme and poor data caused delays. The committee will question the Equitable Members Action Group before turning to Treasury civil servants.

Back in Westminster, after their Leeds excursion, the Communities Committee (at 4.10pm) takes further evidence on the private rented sector - focusing on the availability of private rented housing in different parts of the country. In the second section of the hearing, they'll look at the Fire and Rescue Service with Brandon Lewis, the minister in charge and Peter Holland, the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser.

Thursday

The Public Accounts Committee (at 9.45pm) are not giving up their pursuit of tax avoidance by big companies. They've called back Matt Brittin, Google vice president for sales and operations, Northern and Central Europe, to give further evidence and they also have John Dixon, of accountants Ernst and Young and Lin Homer, the chief executive of HMRC before them. One subject bound to come up is whether it is acceptable to have major accounting firms both helping to draw up tax law, and advising companies on how to minimise their tax bills within those regulations.

In this Parliament, MPs control part of the Commons debating time and can choose the subjects they want to talk about - which made the vote on an EU referendum possible.

They also elect the chairs and members of their select committees. So how have these changes - the so-called Wright Reforms - played out? And should the next step by a "House Business Committee" to control the whole Commons agenda? Andrew Lansley, Leader of the Commons and Angela Eagle, his Labour shadow, give evidence to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, who're examining the options for further development.