Scottish Affairs Select Committee

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The Scottish Affairs Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (and prior to that, the Scottish Office), and relations with the Scottish Parliament. It also looks at the administration and expenditure of the Advocate General for Scotland.^[1]

Unlike the Scottish Grand Committee, MPs from constituencies outside Scotland can, and do, sit on the Scottish Affairs Committee.

Before 1992 there was not consistent Select Committee scrutiny of Scottish affairs.^[2] In 1968 a committee was formed partly in response to the growth of Scottish nationalism, although the committee was closed down by a reorganisation of select committees by Edward Heath's government in 1972. In 1979 Norman St John Stevas the Leader of the House under Margaret Thatcher's government instituted a Select Committee system that closely mirrored government departments in order to have better parliamentary scrutiny of the government. This was again discontinued in 1987 although there was an alternative Scottish Affairs committee composed of opposition MPs.^[2]

Membership of the committee is as follows:^[3]

The chair was elected on 27 January 2020.^[4] Members of the committee were announced on 2 March 2020, but Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) objected to the appointment, claiming that not enough Scottish MPs had been selected.^[5] The debate was adjourned, and the committee was eventually constituted on 4 May 2020, when the list of proposed members was put before the house without objection.^[6]

The election of the chair took place on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announced on 11 September 2017.^[7][8]

The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 6 July 2015.^[9][10]

The chair was elected on 10 June 2010, with members being announced on 12 July 2010.^[11][12]

• Parliamentary Committees of the United Kingdom

• Records of the Scottish Affairs Committee are held at the Parliamentary Archives
• Scottish Affairs Committee