Committee Corridor

In May this year, voter ID was enforced for the first time in polling booths across England. Photo identification such as a driving licence or passport will be needed to vote in the forthcoming parliamentary by-elections, future recall petitions and Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales. From October, everyone will need photo ID to vote in UK General Elections. In this podcast, Committee Corridor looks at voter ID - what is it? Why is it needed? And how will the experience of the local elections scale up in a ageneral election?  Host Catherine McKinnell hears from Dr John Ault, Director of Democracy Volunteers, an organisation which observes elections and reports their findings to improve electoral practice in the UK and abroad. His team fielded over 150 observers at more than half of the council's holding elections and he highlights key findings from their work.   Two select committees have tracked the progress of Voter ID closely. Their Chairs join the podcast to consider what can be learned from the recent elections and the challenges ahead.  Clive Betts MP chairs the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee while William Wragg MP chairs the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠.

The Women's Ashes, the Ladies Tennis at Wimbledon, athletics in Manchester and London, World Cups for football in Australia and New Zealand — women's sport is going from strength to strength, and it's really exciting. But behind the scenes, other battles are being fought. The Independent Commission for Equity and Cricket (ICEC) stark report, ‘Holding a Mirror up to Cricket’ delivered critical verdicts on sexism, racism, classism and elitism in the game. Podcast host Caroline Nokes MP sits down with the Chair of the ICEC, Cindy Butts to explore her report’s findings and hears why she remains ambitious for the future of cricket. Attention then turns to what can be done to address the personal, practical, financial, and institutional challenges which women and girls face from grassroots to the very top of sport. Paralympian and cross-bench peer in the House of Lords, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, also Chair of Sport Wales, describes her experiences in sport and how a more radical approach is needed to keep sport in women’s lives.  While Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee sets out details of her Committee’s work in this area. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠.

There are falling levels of trust in news, growing numbers of people who avoid news stories, and a sharp decline in the number of those who take a strong interest in news coverage. Local newspapers and broadcast services are also disappearing due to cuts, centralisation, and mergers. How would we hold local government and public services to account for the decisions that affect our everyday lives? What does it mean for our understanding of institutions like the courts if we don't engage with coverage? In this episode of our Committee Corridor podcast, host Catherine McKinnell MP (Chair of the House of Commons Petitions Committee) speaks with Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. They recently published a report surveying more than 93,000 online news consumers in 46 countries covering half the world's population. We're also joined by the Chair of the Justice Select Committee, Sir Bob Neill MP. The Committee has called on the court system to embrace technology and welcome media and the public into court proceedings. They say that the decline of local papers makes the business of justice less visible to the public, and the digital media hasn't filled the gap. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠.

Welcome to a brand new season of Committee Corridor. In the first episode, co-host Caroline Nokes MP, Chair of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, speaks with Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, about the effects the Covid-19 pandemic had on education. Children have been through an “unprecedented experience” of seeing schools closed and being restricted to their homes, de Souza says. They have “probably taken the biggest hit because childhood is very short.” Nokes is also joined by fellow parliamentarians Robin Walker MP (Chair, Education Committee) and Dame Meg Hillier MP (Chair, Public Accounts Committee), whose committees have been working on related inquiries: Public Accounts Committee: Education Recovery in Schools Education Committee: Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils Petitions Committees Chair Catherine McKinnell MP is co-hosting this series with Nokes. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠.

Welcome to Committee Corridor. This pilot podcast from the House of Commons select committees opens a door into the world of scrutiny through the lens of some of the UK’s most pressing concerns.  Hosted by select committee chairs, each episode features an insight interview with a leading figure combined with updates from MPs on the work of their different select committees across Parliament.  Issues of international importance such as the War in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, the UK’s energy security, human rights and justice have all been featured.  Join our hosts Caroline Nokes (Chair, Women and Equalities Committee) and Catherine McKinnell (Chair, Petitions Committee) as they delve into matters of equality and democracy, in the latest batch of episodes leading up to summer 2023. Subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. Tell us what you think via our feedback form. 

Welcome to the final episode of this series of Committee Corridor.  In this series of Committee Corridor we’ve been looking at human rights and justice. Today, we’re updating you on the different issues we covered: modern slavery in the UK, the forced adoption of the children from unmarried mothers from the 1940s-1970s, plans to reform the Human Rights Act and the critical issues facing the criminal justice system in England and Wales. To bring you up to date with work in select committees, we’ll also hear how employment rights are being put to the test. The Joint Committee on Human Rights has launched an inquiry into how far human rights are protected and respected at work. Select Committee Chairs, Darren Jones MP and Caroline Nokes MP review how their committees have tackled some of the key issues facing workers today, making for some spirited exchanges in the committee rooms. They reflect on how select committees can get to the heart of critical issues. Your host is Joanna Cherry KC MP. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠. 

Welcome to a special episode of Committee Corridor. Today, we're sharing the highlights from a special event to mark 25 years of the Environmental Audit Committee, recorded live at Imperial College London.  In today’s episode, you’ll hear from the keynote speaker at the event, the former Prime Minister Theresa May MP, who put the 2050 net zero target into law.  There are contributions from an esteemed panel who discussed the impact of the EAC since it was created in 1997. The panel consists of Dr Hannah White from the Institute for Government, Professor Mary Ryan from Imperial College, David Shukman - former science editor at the BBC and former EAC Chair and Visiting Professor at Cranfield University, Mary Creagh. The MPs then invited leading academics to pitch ideas for the Committee to explore as a future inquiry.  Your host is the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Philip Dunne MP. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. Tell us what you think via our feedback form. 

A significant backlog of Crown Court cases hitting more than 60,000 by September 2022; the highest rate of prisoners on remand for 50 years and court buildings in poor repair. Committee Corridor continues its series on human rights and justice, asking whether the criminal justice system in England and Wales in crisis. Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg joins podcast host Joanna Cherry to consider the most pressing problems facing the sector. Top of the list is recruitment and a lack of young people able to practise criminal law. Unless there are enough lawyers, there will be repercussions for the whole system, he says.  They also consider the need for investment, research on rape convictions and the broadcasting of sentencing. Joanna then turns to Chair of the Home Affairs Committee and Labour MP, Diana Johnson; and Chair of the Justice Committee, Conservative MP, Sir Bob Neill, to hear what evidence their Committees have uncovered and what should be top of the Government’s to-do list. The Justice Committee has conducted a number of inquiries looking in detail at the current state of the justice system, including Court Capacity and the role of adult custodial remand. The Home Affairs Committee has reported on the investigation and prosecution of rape. It is currently examining how the police service can reform to meet future challenges. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. Tell us what you think via our feedback form. 

25 years ago, the landmark Human Rights Act changed the way in which human rights were enforced throughout the United Kingdom. The Act gave domestic effect to the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the convention in 1951. Last year, the Government brought forward legislation for a British Bill of Rights, which would repeal and replace the Human Rights Act, but would place limitations on the interpretation and enforcement of those rights. Host Joanna Cherry is joined by Professor Francesca Klug who considers the impact of the Act and offers practical examples of its application, looking at the rights of people in care homes during the pandemic and changes to the scope of inquests which contributed to the establishment of the Hillsborough, Grenfell Tower and COVID-19 inquiries. Professor Klug was part of the legal team which assisted the 1998 Government to devise the model that gave effect to the European Convention on Human Rights in our domestic law, and part of the Government's task force which oversaw the implementation of the act in its early days. She has been awarded an OBE for her services to human rights. Joanna is then joined by the Liberal Democrat Peer, Baroness Sarah Ludford and David Simmonds MP, Conservative member of Parliament for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner who were members of the cross-party Joint Committee on Human Rights when it published its report into Human Rights Act reform, which inspired the focus of this episode of the podcast.

In this week's episode of Committee Corridor, we hear the stories of two women who suffered great pain and great loss as a result of decisions which were taken out of their hands. From the 1940s to the 1970s, tens of thousands of children were adopted simply because their mothers weren't married, and even though their mothers did not want to let them go. Last year, the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights published a report about the adoption of children of unmarried women from 1940s-1970s. Podcast host Joanna Cherry speaks to two women directly affected about their experiences before catching up with Harriet Harman KC MP about the outcomes from the Joint Committee’s work. Ann Keen was born in 1948 in North Wales. She became pregnant and was sent to a mother and baby home at the age of just 17, back in 1966. She went on to work in the NHS as a nurse, and later, she served as the Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth from 1997 to 2010. Liz Harvie was born in a maternity hospital in Northampton in 1974, her birth mother was unmarried. Liz was adopted at eight-weeks-old, and she lived with her adopted parents, and her brother, also adopted, who joined the family, two years later. We understand that the issues raised in the podcast may be sensitive or upsetting and the following organisations may be able to offer support or further information: Samaritans - Call 116 123 - 24 hours a day, every day | Email jo@samaritans.org PAC-UK  - Independent Adoption Support Agency offering: Advice, Support, Counselling & Training. The advice line is available on 020 7284 5879 and 0113 230 2100. Adoption UK Charity – For information on a range of adoption-related issues and campaigns for improvements to adoption policy and legislation. The helpline is available on 0300 666 0006. We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. Tell us what you think via our feedback form.