Stroud MP Neil Carmichael discusses the Education Select Committee

Select Committees were introduced in 1979 and have now become firmly established as powerful instruments for holding the government accountable and, increasingly, sources of ideas for change.

Both of these activities will be pursued vigorously while I am chair of the Education Select Committee but a third activity – introducing new ways of operating – will also characterise its work.

One innovation already being worked up is the notion of joint inquiries with other Select Committees in order to underline the value of holistic approaches to policy making. To this end, plans are being formulated for the Education Select Committee to combine with the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee for a wide ranging investigation into the much discussed economic productivity gap between the UK and our competitors. More such crosscutting inquiries are in the pipeline.

The first formal and public meeting of the Education Select Committee will be when it questions the Secretary of State for Education on Wednesday, September 9. A wide range of issues will be put to the minister with probing supplementary questions also being asked. The second public meeting a week later will be a similar format but this time for the Chief Inspector of Schools and Colleges. Details of these forthcoming encounters can be found on the website.

Once this Parliamentary session gets going, a number of inquiries will be taking place. The process for each inquiry involves collection of evidence, oral evidence sessions, publication of report, the government’s response and subsequent exchanges of opinion.

Some reports overhanging from the last Parliament have been considered in the last few months; the notable example of my reaction to the government’s approach to the Committee’s proposals for sex and relationship education as being ‘feeble’ demonstrating a sharp difference of opinion.

The themes for these coming inquiries and, indeed, continuous engagement with key stakeholders, ministers and agencies will reflect both immediate concerns about problems such as the recruitment and retention of teachers, and more strategic thinking around structures and outcomes.

The work of the Education Select Committee will always be interesting, and, occasionally, controversial through being will to contest assumptions and policies.