Work in Parliament
Commitees and Groups
There are many types of groups and committees in Parliament. You can visit the Parliamentary Committees page by clicking here
I am mainly involved in work with All Party Parliamentary Groups or APPGs. I recently sat on two Public Bill Committees relating to science and health and I used to serve on the Science and Technology Select Committee.
Public Bill Committee
A Public Bill Committee is a committee set up by the House of Commons to consider the details of a particular Bill. All Bills other than Money Bills are automatically sent to a Public Bill Committee following their second reading unless they are committed to a Committee of the Whole House.
Public Bill Committees only last for the duration of the Bill concerned. The composition of the Committees must match the size of the parties in the House. If a party has 60% of the seats in the Commons then the party will have 60% of the membership of the Public Bill Committee.
Public Bill Committees can, like a Select Committee, take oral evidence as part of its scrutiny of the Bill
Further information on this subject can be found from the following links.
Background information about Parliamentary Committees
Committees : A - Z Index (General Committees)
Ian has recently been on the following Public Bill Committees:
Mental Health Bill Committee April-May 2007
To visit the Committee home page click here
For details of the Bill's pasage through Parliament click here
Human Tissue and Embryo Committee May-July 2007
To visit the Committee Home Page click here
For details of the Bill's passage through Parliament click here
Select Committees
Select Committees are official committees of the House made up of between eleven and sixteen cross party MPs. There are 19 Select Committees in Parliament. They are designed to scrutinise the work of government departments. Their offical role is to examine 'the expenditure, administration and policy' of the relevant department and its 'associated public bodies' (e.g. regulators and quangos). Select Committees have between three and six staff, hold inquiries and produce reports.
Innovation Universities and Skills Committee
I am currently a member of the Innovation Universities and Skills Committee
This Committee was established in the 2007/08 parliamentary session and has fourteen members, who were chosen on the 8th November 2007.
The formal remit of the Committee is to examine the administration, expenditure and policy of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, including further education, higher education, skills and the Government Office for Science.
To visit the home page of the committee click here
For a shortcut to our forthcoming evidence sessions click here
Our Reports and Publications (once we have some) will be here
The Innovation Universities and Skills Committee replaced the Science and Technology Select Committee which I chaired from 2001-2005. You can read more about my work during that time at the bottom of this page.
To find out more about Select Committees click here
To see a list of all the Select Committees which then links to their publications click here
All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)
My main work now is with All-Party Parliamentary Groups or APPGs. All-party groups are regarded as relatively informal compared with other cross-party bodies such as select committees of the House. The membership of all-party groups mainly comprises backbench Members of the House of Commons and Lords but may also include ministers and in some cases non-parliamentarians. You can visit the Register of All-Party Groups here
Groups flourish and wane according to the interests and enthusiasm of Members. Due to their unofficial status APPGs could be compared to campaign or lobby groups within parliament. APPGs do not receive any funding. They rely on sponsorship or voluntary work to run events and employ staff.
MPs are usually members of many APPGs. They will become a member of an APPG because they support the cause or issue it relates to. However it would be impossible to be directly involved in the running of every group. I have listed the APPGs I am closely involved with immediately below. Further down you can see some of the other groups I am involved with.
The APPG on Cancer
I am also the Chair of the APPG on Cancer. I founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer in 1998 to keep cancer at the top of the political agenda and to ensure that policy-making is patient-centred. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) brings together MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum to debate key issues and campaign together to improve cancer services.
The APPG holds regular meetings and has recently discussed vital issues such as the NHS cancer plan, professional and financial side effects of cancer, genetics, public health, and cancer and private health care, attracting an impressive range of speakers and a wide audience of MPs and cancer organisations.
Every year the APPG holds a Policy Conference ‘Britain Against Cancer’. The conference is a unique opportunity to bring together everyone who has an interest in improving cancer services in the UK. This years conference was in November to see a run down of the day click here
It is my firm belief that cancer is, and must remain a priority for the government. One in four people will have cancer at one point in their lives. We need to take cancer seriously.
I was delighted to have been voted the ePolitix health charity champion the past three years for my work on Cancer. I also presented the award this year.
For more information on the APPG on Cancer please visit our website.
The secretariat for the APPG on Cancer is provided by Cancerbackup.
Group on Scientific Research Into ME
I was approached last year by a group of constituents who suffer from ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis). ME can also be referred to as CFS ( Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). I was concerned to hear of the difficulties these people faced in getting both treatment and recognition for their illness. After a few more meetings I established The Group on Scientific Research into ME, with the aim of holding a Parliamentary Inquiry into the subject of ME. Before summer this year we held 5 Oral Hearings and received an unprecedented number of submissions from members of the public. The final report was completed at the end of November 2006 and you can read it on our website if you clickhere.
Our terms of reference are for the Inquiry are as below;
"The Gibson Inquiry "
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Terms of Reference
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The APPG on Cuba
I serve as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba. It's aim is 'to raise awareness and build on links with the country and people of Cuba'.
In February 2004, I led a parliamentary delegation to Cuba and in March that year we hosted with the Wellcome Trust, a conference on Cuban technologies with guest speakers from scientific institutions in Cuba. Read about the conference here.
In 2005 we received a return delegation from the National Assembly for Cuba. In summer 2006 the APPG again sent a delegation to visit Cuba. You can read our delegation report by clicking here.
I am currently working on a project looking at Cuban Biotechnologies. Cuba is on the cutting edge of biotechnologies particularly when it come to developing vaccines. The APPG is hoping to team research teams in the UK with research teams in Cuba to look at ways to make joint progress in this important area.
Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum
I chair the Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum (FHF) which is an all-party independent forum for the exchange of views and information on food policy in the UK Parliament. The Forum's main work covers the relationship between food, nutrition, health and the implications of these factors in key areas affecting health in the population. Members of the forum include MPs, MEPs, Peers, Academics, Food and Health Industry Specialists, Food Research Organisations, Charities and Commercial Food and Health Organisation. Find out more about the FHF here.
I also sit on a number of groups outside Parliament, you can find out all the groups I am affiliated too and the awards I have won here.
I also sit on the APPGs for:
Aids
Bullying and workplace violence
Cancer
Climate change
Coeliac Disease and Dermatitis Herpetiformis
Cuba
Design and Innovation
Earth Sciences
Earth Sciences
Health
Heart Disease
Historic Churches
Infertility
Integrated and Complementary Healthcare
Malaria
Medical Research
Mental Health
Mobile Communications
Motor Neurone Disease
Muscular Dystrophy
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)
Patient Safety
Pesticides and Organophoshates
Public Data
Racing and Bloodstock Industries
Rowing
Science
Smoking and Health
Thalidomide
Town Centre Management
Science and Technology Select Committee
One of the key groups I used to serve on was the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee for which I was chair from 2001-2005.
I also served on the Committee for four years before I became chair. It is the Select Committee’s job is to shadow the work of the Office of Science and Technology (OST), which is a part of the Department of Trade and Industry. Lord Sainsbury, the Science Minister heads the OST.
The Select Committee makes sure that the OST’s money is wisely spent and investigates science policy decisions made by it and other parts of the Government. But as science effects many important political and governmental decisions, the Committee investigates the reliability of scientific advice given to government and the science behind many areas of political concern for example in health or education.
My work as Chair led me to many places around the world- I led delegations to Germany, Japan, the United States, Brussels and Malawi. The committee has published numerous reports some of the most recent are:
- Strategic Science Provision in English Universities read it here
- Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law read it here
- The Use of Science in UK International Development Policy read it here
You can find all the reports for the committee here