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The House of Lords Liaison Committee recently (23 June 2023) published its report on Committee activity in 2022-23.

• Report: Review of House of Lords investigative and scrutiny committee activity in 2022-23 (HTML)
• Report: Review of House of Lords investigative and scrutiny committee activity in 2022-23 (PDF)
• Enhanced summary
• Liaison Committee

Key points

2022/23 was a busy and productive year for House of Lords committees which continued to scrutinise legislation, examine public policy and hold the Government to account. Over the last year Lords committees held 586 committee meetings, heard from 959 witnesses, received 1829 written submissions and published 70 reports on a wide range of subjects.

The review highlights the impact of committee work. This includes legislative amendments, recommendations accepted by Government and incorporated into future policy and strategies or informing Parliamentary and public debate on key and relevant topics. Some highlights include:

• The Communications and Digital Committee recommendations to include the creative industries in the Government’s priority growth areas, make tax reliefs internationally competitive and change plans to overhaul the text and data mining regime were implemented by the Government in the 2023 Spring Budget.
• Shortly after the Environment and Climate Change Committee made representations to the Government on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the Government extended the Scheme by three years.
• The Public Services Committee’s recommendations for a higher number of clinicians to be available on the NHS 111 service and for the monthly publication of a key figure on emergency department 12-hour waiting times were both included in the Government’s Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services.
• The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee reports on the relationship between Parliament and Government and the use of secondary legislation garnered a significant response and resulted in a well-attended joint debate in the House of Lords in January 2023, highlighting the need for effective Parliamentary oversight of legislation.

2022/23 saw the conclusion of 4 special inquiry committees; Children and Families Act 2014 Committee, Fraud Act 2006 and digital fraud Committee, Adult social care provision Committee and a Land Use in England Committee. All the inquiries received largely positive responses from Government, with the Fraud Act 2006 and Digital Fraud Committee recommendations informing the Government’s Fraud Strategy. 2022/23 also saw the appointment of 4 new special inquiry committees: AI in Weapon Systems; Education for 11-16 Year Olds; Horticultural Sector; Integration of Primary and Community Care.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees