Week ahead in committees

After a torpid couple of weeks on the committee corridor there's suddenly a glut of excitement - with cabinet ministers two a penny and several hearings which zero in on current scandals and controversies.

And, in particular, recent events in the NHS will be under the microscope. The Health Committee has Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt before it, and then the new leadership of the scandal-hit Care Quality Commission - while the Public Accounts Committee entertains NHS boss Sir David Nicholson as it looks into "confidentiality clause and special severance payments" - ie gagging clauses.

And the Public Administration Committee gets in on the act when it talks to NHS executives about the way the Health Service deals with complaints from patients.

Here's my rundown of the main excitements....

Monday

The Public Accounts Committee hearing on High Speed 2 (3.15pm) has been moved to a bigger room, presumably because there's considerable interest from MPs. This National Audit Office Report concluded that it is "too early in the High Speed 2 programme to conclude on the likelihood of its achieving value for money. Our concern at this point is the lack of clarity around the department's objectives. The strategic case for the network should be better developed at this stage of the programme. It is intended to demonstrate the need for the line but so far presents limited evidence on forecast passenger demand and expected capacity shortages on existing lines. It is also unclear how High Speed 2 will transform regional economies by delivering jobs and growth. The department is trying against a challenging timetable to strengthen its evidence and analysis, which at present provide a weak foundation for securing and demonstrating success in the programme in future."

Philip Rutnam, the top civil servant at the Department for Transport, David Prout, the Director General of HS2 and Alison Munro, the Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, give evidence.

The Transport Committee (at 4.05pm) continues its inquiry into access to ports - and whether existing links are adequate, with witnesses from ports, transport companies, local authorities and transport authorities.

Tuesday

It's taken a while, but the Defence Committee inquiry into the defence implications of Scottish independence (2pm) has finally secured a witness from the SNP Scottish government - in the shape of Falklands veteran Keith Brown MSP, whose ministerial responsibilities include veterans.

Expect questions about what an independent Scotland might be able to afford in terms of ships, subs and aircraft, and on the fate of the Faslane nuclear submarine base - if the SNP stick to their nuclear-free policy, and insist that nuclear subs leave an independent Scotland, the UK would have nowhere to base its nuclear deterrent. Also giving evidence, and possibly a verdict on Mr Brown's answers, will be the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Apart from Mr Hammond, two other Cabinet ministers will be stalking the committee corridor - topping the bill is the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who, in theory, will be talking about the implementation of the Health and Social Care Act (the new system brought in amidst vast controversy and angst by his predecessor, Andrew Lansley).

In practice he'll face questions about the CQC saga, and a cross examination from members worried that the NHS could buckle this winter. And Energy Secretary Ed Davey is before the Energy and Climate Change Committee (at 3.15pm) and can expect questions on fracking, nuclear power and the latest announcement on the "strike price" guaranteed to new energy investors

The Home Affairs Committee (2.45pm) has a triple headed session dealing with asylum, private investigators and the new Police and Crime Commissioners. The second two subjects should provide considerable interest: the committee has called in SOCA the Serious and Organised Crime Agency to talk about their report which reveals the extent of illegal phone hacking on behalf of lawyers and other non-newspaper clients, and then they hear from Ian Johnson, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, and from Carmel Napier, the Chief Constable he forced to retire.

The Treasury Committee (at 10am) ponders the Bank of England June 2013 Financial Stability Report with the aid of top officials from the bank including the outgoing Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Paul Tucker, and the new boy at the bank, Andrew Bailey, the Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation, plus members of the Financial Policy Committee. Will Paul Tucker deliver some parting shots? Will Andrew Bailey announce himself with some surprise pronouncement?

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (9.30am) has another session on the UK retail sector, covering such issues as the decline of the high street and the impact of on-line traders - the latest crop of witnesses includes Boots, the John Lewis Partnership, Marks and Spencer, the Co-op, Sainsburys and Tesco. And the Justice Committee (9.30am) returns to a subject it examined at length in the last parliament - the use of taxpayers' money on crime reduction policies. Their Justice Reinvestment report, before the last election, suggested diverting more money into preventive work and they will be quizzing a series of experts and pressure groups.

With impressive timing, the Public Administration Committee (9.30am) focuses on the NHS as it continues its inquiry into "Complaints: do they make a difference?" They'll hear from a series of NHS managers, plus Age UK and the Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Now a new president has taken the helm in China, what might that mean for Britain and the world.....the Foreign Affairs Committee at 2.30pm has what amounts to a seminar with leading China-watchers from assorted think tanks and universities.

Last week I predicted a bid for a debate on arms to Syria at the Backbench Business Committee, and it didn't materialise; but I hear there are still moves afoot to bring a vote-able motion to the Commons and the Conservative John Barron - the only Tory to vote against the Afghan war and the Libya intervention - wants to put down a motion requiring that Parliament must give prior approval to any arming of the Syrian rebels. The meeting is at 3pm.

Earlier, the MPs' disciplinary watchdog, the Committee on Standards (9.45am) continues its look at the workings of All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) with Commons iconoclast Douglas Carswell and Unlock Democracy among the witnesses.

Wednesday

There's more NHS-scrutinising at the Public Accounts Committee (2.15pm) when they consider the issue of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments. This National Audit Office report commented that "compromise agreements are widely, and often legitimately used. But the lack of transparency, consistency and accountability is unacceptable. With the public purse under sustained pressure and services increasingly delivered at arm's length, it is important that compromise agreements do not leave staff feeling gagged or reward the failure either of an employee or an organization. The centre of government should get a grip on the use of compromise agreements in the public sector."

Witnesses include Sharon White, the Director-General of Public Services at the Treasury, Una O'Brien, the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive for the NHS in England.

Under fire from the legal profession, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling appears before the Justice Committee (9.30am) to talk about the "Price Competitive Tendering Proposals in the Government's Transforming Legal Aid Consultation".

Boldly going where no select committee has gone before, the Science and Technology Committee (9.15am) looks at the work of the European and UK Space Agencies with Jean-Luc Picard, er, sorry, Jean-Jacques Dordain, the Director General of the European Space Agency.

There are more high powered witnesses at the special committee scrutinising the Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill (at 9.45am) - the measure to answer rulings in the European Court of Human Rights requiring the UK to remove its blanket ban on voting by prison inmates. Superlawyer Lord Lester, former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, Constitutional pundit Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, and Commons critic, Dominic Raab MP give their views.

Thursday

The Europe Minister, David Lidington, is the final witness in the European Scrutiny Committee's look at the way the Commons processes EU legislation at 10.30am.

And the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (10am) continues its look at what happens next in reform of the House of Lords with senior peers and their lordships' senior official, David Beamish, the Clerk of the Parliaments.