Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Tomassi and I'm gonna be working through a review on your Citizenship lesson today.

Hopefully you're all settled, you've got everything you need for the lesson and you're good to go.

If that's the case, then we'll get started.

The title of today's lesson is, "Can citizens play a bigger role in select committees?" And this forms part of the unit on, "How can politicians involve citizens in direct decision-making?" Hopefully by the end of the lesson today you'll be able to explain what select committees are and the role citizens play in them in the UK.

Now in the lesson, there are gonna be two keywords.

You'll see these in bold throughout, so if you need to, you can refer back to them here, but we're gonna go through the definitions now.

Select committee, this is a group of members of a legislative body chosen to investigate and report on specific issues or topics.

The next keyword is inquiry.

These are investigations conducted by committees to examine specific issues or areas of government policy.

So we've got two learning cycles today.

We're gonna make a start with the first, which is, "How are citizens involved in select committees?" So to start with, do you know what a select committee is? Have you heard of one before? Maybe you've come across what one is before.

Start thinking if you've got any ideas if you haven't.

It's a group of MPs or members of the House of Lords from different political parties.

They look at a specific matter or a topic.

Now they're set up to examine government departments through the use of inquiries.

So some examples of what committees are, what they look like.

You've got Business and Trade committees, Public Services, Work and Pensions.

There are such a huge variety of all different types of select committees.

And if you are interested to find out more, you could always have a look on the website and see if you could find some interesting types of committees.

What's the purpose of them? They're there to scrutinise and investigate government actions and policies by digging deep and delving into that specific matter.

If you recall earlier, select committees are made up of MPs and members of the House of Lords, and this is because there are select committees in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

They just might have a little bit of a different name or look a tiny bit different, but they're doing the same thing.

So in the House of Commons, that's the image there, they've select committees that shadow each of the government departments.

So things like education, transport, those government departments, they have the select committee set up for the same thing.

Whereas in the House of Lords, they have some permanent select committees, which will have similar topics but there'll be broader subject areas, and then they have some special pop-up committees that might investigate a specific current issue.

So if something's occurred and it needs investigating, that's what they might have a pop-up committee for.

Who is responsible for running select committees in the UK? A, the monarch; B, members of the House of Commons; C, members of the House of Lords; D, the prime minister.

It is two answers, it is B and C.

Hopefully you managed to get that.

So Alex says here, "If select committees are run by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, then how do citizens get involved?" Have you got any ideas? Maybe have you ever been involved in a select committee before? So one way citizens can be involved is for giving evidence.

All of the select committees are available on the UK Parliament website so citizens can go on there and they can find ones that they are interested in, and ones also that they've got relevant knowledge and experience about to submit evidence, because that's really what those select committees are looking for, they're looking for that relevant knowledge and expertise on that subject, so people that have maybe lived experiences or could work in that area or know something about it.

And this leads us onto the type of evidence that they ask for.

So to give you a bit of an example, they might be looking for written submissions.

So these would be written out and sent in.

They might be looking for an oral testimony, so people to talk and speak about an issue or a topic.

Supporting document, so maybe some research or evidence that could go with to support the select committee's inquiry.

And again, it could come in a wide variety of ways.

Could you think how you could give that evidence? What do we think? So things like personal experiences, expert opinions, research findings, statistical data, cases relevant to what is being investigated.

Can you think why they would want that wide range? Why is that beneficial? So when we think about it, it's because you're hearing that diverse range of opinions on the issue.

Research alone is not gonna be enough because some people's lived experiences might be varied and include things that haven't been included in the research and vice versa, so it's good to get that wide range of different evidence to ensure that these select committees are really scrutinising and finding the most out that they can about the topics.

True or false? Select committees can ask for personal experiences as evidence from citizens.

That is true.

So Izzy says now, "Do select committees just want evidence from experts?" We touched upon that a little bit.

What do you think? They want well-rounded evidence to understand the real impact of the issue.

So that might be from experts, so doctors or researchers.

It could be from campaigners and charities who also might do work around a topic.

Public figures, everyday citizens with the lived experience, and young people.

Especially when select committees impact young people and the topic they're looking at impacts young people, they really wanna hear their views as well.

So to give you an example of a select committee and how it works, in 2018, the Health and Social Care Committee conducted an inquiry into how the UK could better tackle childhood obesity.

Now, as part of that, they invited oral and written evidence from a diverse group of witnesses.

This included doctors.

So can you think why the doctors would be useful? Well, they were providing the medical insights into the health impacts of obesity on children.

We've then got school food experts.

So again, they're looking at what children are being fed in schools and the challenges of improving the standards there.

Then there's professors and researchers, so they might offer the scientific data on obesity trends and the effectiveness of interventions.

Chefs and campaigners as well, so they're sharing public insight and recommendation both based on work with schools and families.

So there's a wide range of evidence collected.

Of course, they also spoke to citizens and other people as well.

So we'll look now in a little bit of detail of some of that evidence that was provided.

So there was Laura Flanagan, who's a School Food Improvement Lead.

Now she gave oral evidence at the committee of what she had observed in schools.

She emphasised the need for a whole school approach on healthy eating and not just changes at lunchtime.

She also called for more awareness about the dangers of sedentary lifestyles among children.

Now this is one form of evidence.

What do you think the other people, do you think that they were all gonna find the same thing as well or maybe they have different opinions? Hopefully you're thinking that they had different opinions, because they did.

So Jamie Oliver, a celebrity chef and health campaigner, submitted written evidence and gave an oral testimony.

Now he supported a multi-pronged environmental strategy to reduce childhood obesity.

So what he was specifically advocating for is stricter nutritional standards in all schools, better food education for children and families, extending the sugar tax to include milkshakes and other exempted sugary drinks, and a long-term government commitment to tackling unhealthy food marketing.

So when we say a multi-pronged, that's what it's saying.

So if you had a bit of a star with all the different arrows off, it's this idea that you are tackling this issue from all the different angles.

So this is a little bit different but it also links in with what the school food improvement lead was saying as well.

So you've got different ideas coming in here and what you might start to see is like in the select committees, they might see a trend in what is being said.

And then if that's the case, then this might help them to form their recommendations at the end.

Now we'll look at the final report.

So the final report recommendations included extending whole school food standards to all schools, adopting a whole school approach to healthy eating, and extending the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, that's known as the sugar tax, to include milk-based sugary drinks.

Did we see some of them ideas in them testimonies? We did, and what's happened then is they've used that information from the citizens and the experts to bring together this final report.

And this inquiry is an example of how different types of citizens from different backgrounds can shape the recommendations that go into a select committee's final report.

Can you identify one way citizens were involved in the 2018 Health and Social Care Committee to reduce childhood obesity? Now this could have been providing written evidence or maybe providing oral testimonies.

If you decided to look into this select committee, you would've seen that there was also supporting statements and documents uploaded as well.

If you had that one, that would be correct as well.

That moves us on for the first task for today.

Izzy here says, "I think a select committee should investigate the impact of mobile phones and social media on learning and wellbeing in schools." Read Izzy's suggestion, explain at least two different types of citizens that should be called to give evidence to the select committee, and explain why their contributions would be valuable.

So you might wanna take some time here and pause so you can really think about who should be giving evidence and why their evidence would be valuable.

If you've got a partner or somebody there, you might wanna have a chat with them.

If not, you can have a reflection on your own and have a think about who might be beneficial and why.

When you've got your response, unpause and we can go through some feedback together.

How did you get on? So your response could have looked like this.

Of course you might have had some different people, so don't worry too much.

But it just gives you a bit of an idea of what you're looking for in terms of what would be valuable.

So, "I think a select committee inquiry on the impact of mobile phones and social media on learning should ask school counsellors and secondary school pupils to give evidence.

A school counsellor could provide expert insights on how constant access to social media affects young people.

Their evidence could help to show the long-term effects on pupil wellbeing and what support schools may need.

A secondary school pupil could give firsthand experiences of how phones and social media have impacted their daily school life, both positively and negatively.

This would ensure a balanced view on the issue to make recommendations that are realistic and pupil centred." Is that the similar style to what you managed to get? Did you have any other ideas? Hopefully it's given you a bit of an oversight into how different people can be called for evidence and why they might be involved in select committees.

We're gonna use that that we've learned there to now look at how engaged are citizens in select committees.

So in 2019, the Liaison sub-committee launched an inquiry into the effectiveness and influence of the select committee system.

Now what they found was that select committees have become more visible and relevant, especially in areas like climate change.

Public engagement is improving but needs to be more consistent.

And there is potential to strengthen the role of citizens in shaping inquiries and giving evidence.

You could think whether you knew about select committees before you started this, because if you did, maybe they are being more visible.

So Sofia said, "I'd not heard of a select committee until we learnt about them at school." Now, civic education in schools and communities can help to spread awareness of select committees.

It helps to promote understanding of parliamentary processes and it can encourage more citizens to get involved in select committees.

Just think about that.

When we learn about something and we hear about it, then we're more likely to want to get involved if it's of our interest.

Andeep says, "I only heard about select committees because my friend is part of the Youth Select Committee." Have you heard of the Youth Select Committee or what they do? So the Youth Select Committee is made up of 14 to 18-year-olds and they have 12 committee members.

This includes representatives of young people from groups and programmes across the UK.

By involving the young people directly, it helps to raise awareness of how select committee works, and again, it is promoting that civic education.

But if you didn't hear about it, I guess you could argue as well maybe it's not known enough about, then maybe more could be done so that more people knew about it and could get involved.

So the more citizens that are involved in select committees, the more democratic and representative committee work becomes.

So again, it's that cycle, isn't it? The more you hear, the more people get involved, and it carries on.

Can you think why it would be really important that more people get involved? So it's things like it's encouraging more contributions, so you're gonna hear a wider range of voices.

That makes it more diverse and underrepresented voices can be heard.

This would help to ensure that what is being suggested is beneficial to all.

It can help build trust and transparency in parliamentary processes because people feel like actually they've been involved and they've had a bit of a say and that the people that are making the decisions have heard those voices.

Then it empower citizens to take part in shaping the decisions that affect them.

Again, a bit similar to what we were talking about.

True or false? The more citizens are involved in select committees, the less democratic it will become.

What do you think? That's false.

Why is that false? The more citizens are involved, the more democratic it will become.

Like I was saying, it brings a wider range of voices and it starts that cycle off.

Now the Oak National Academy pupils have been discussing ways they believe citizens could become more engaged in select committees.

So we'll start with Izzy here who says, "I had a look on the website and I found it hard to find out if the public's contributions had made a difference to the decision-making process.

It'd be helpful if there was an easy-to-read summary to show the impact the select committee had." What do you think about this? Maybe if you had a look and have a look at a committee that you're interested in, can you understand the contributions? Or would it be better if there was an easy-to-read version of them that gave a short summary and the ideas briefly so then you could have an understanding of what had gone on? Andeep says, "I'd be more likely to get involved in select committees if I could propose inquiry topics to investigate that I was interested in." So what do you think about that? Because at the moment, the select committee inquiry topics are picked by the committee members themselves.

Do you think citizens should be able to have a say and maybe put a proposal in? Or should it be the committee members that do it? Sofia says, "Me too.

It would be good if the select committee ran online voting sessions of what inquiry choices and citizens got to vote on what should be investigated." Again, do you think that would help to improve engagement? Would you be more likely to do that? So which of these suggestions would help citizens to engage more in select committees? A, allowing citizens to vote on proposed inquiry topics.

B, making evidence sessions closed to the public.

C, having easy-to-read summary reports from committees.

D, avoid publishing inquiry topics in advance.

What do you think? Did you manage to get that it is A and C? Now we move on to the final task for the lesson today.

Can you design a proposal for the UK Parliament that suggests two ways citizens could become more engaged in select committees? Include an explanation that shows how this would help involve citizens in the decision-making process.

And also, if you're a bit more creative, you could design your pro, you know, you could design your proposal visually, you might want to do it electronically, or you might want to do a written proposal.

Because if you remember when we looked at select committees, those evidence comes in different forms. It's the same here.

If you wanted your proposal done orally, written or electronically, that is up to you.

But just take some time, get your ideas across, and then when you're ready, if you unpause, we'll feedback and we'll go through the responses together.

So how did you find that? Now, as I said, you could have a really interesting way of proposing this, that is up to you.

The idea that we've got down here is just to give you a bit of an idea of the content that might be included rather than the design.

So your proposal could look like this.

"In order to improve engagement with select committees, the UK Parliament could create an online platform where citizens can suggest topics for the select committee inquiries.

This would ensure that citizens could raise issues important to them and would help citizens have a direct role in shaping what Parliament investigates.

Another way to improve engagement would be to offer easy-to-read summary reports.

These would be short and simple versions of the report so that it's accessible to more of the people and they can understand the findings and recommendations.

This will help citizens to stay informed and help them to be more likely to get involved in future discussions and the decision-making process." How does this compare? Is this similar to ideas that you had? Maybe you had even better ideas.

Maybe your ideas could actually promote real change to select committees if you wanted to suggest them.

That would be taking it a step further and becoming a real active citizen.

So that now brings us to the summary of today's lesson.

So to summarise, select committees are groups of MPs or members of the House of Lords from different political parties who look at a specific matter.

Citizens can give evidence to select committees in a variety of forms, including written submissions, oral testimonies, and supporting documents.

The Youth Select Committee gives young people a direct role in examining issues and influencing policy.

Improving citizen engagement in select committees can empower individuals to take part in shaping decisions that affect their lives.

One way to strengthen this engagement is by enhancing civic education.

Now, as I said, that brings us to the end, so hopefully you've had an idea of what a select committee is and how more citizens could play a bigger role.

Thanks so much for working with me today and enjoy the rest of your day.