The Scottish Affairs Select Committee is a select committee of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. 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 The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

), and relations with the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

. It also looks at the administration and expenditure of the

Advocate General for Scotland His Majesty's Advocate General for Scotland is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, whose duty it is to advise the The Crown, Crown and His Majesty's Government on Scots law. The Office of the Advocate General for Scotland is a Departments o ...

. Unlike the Scottish Grand Committee, MPs from constituencies outside

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

can, and do, sit on the Scottish Affairs Committee.

Predecessors

Before 1992 there was not consistent Select Committee scrutiny of Scottish affairs.A COMMITTEE AGAIN: THE FIRST YEAR OF THE REVIVED SELECT COMMITTEE ON SCOTTISH AFFAIRS
Allan McConnell and Robert Pyper, Scottish Affairs, no.7, Spring 1994 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.

Membership

Membership of the committee is as follows:

2019–2024 Parliament

The chair was elected on 27 January 2020. 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. 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.

Changes 2019–2024

2017–2019 Parliament

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

Changes 2017–2019

2015–2017 Parliament

The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 6 July 2015.

Changes 2015–2017

2010–2015 Parliament

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

Changes 2010–2015

List of chairs

References

External links

Records of the Scottish Affairs Committee are held at the Parliamentary ArchivesScottish Affairs Committee
{{UKParliamentCommittees Politics of Scotland Select Committees of the British House of Commons