National Minimum Wage: Government committees

There is a Commons Select Committee for each government department, examining three aspects: spending, policies and administration.

These departmental committees have a minimum of 11 members, who decide upon the line of inquiry and then gather written and oral evidence. These members are elected by other MPs. Findings are reported to the Commons, printed, and published on the Parliament website. The government then usually has 60 days to reply to the committee’s recommendations.

Some Select Committees have a role that crosses departmental boundaries such as the Public Accounts Committee.

Treasury Committee

The Treasury Committee, amongst other things, examines the expenditure, administration and policy of HM Treasury and HMRC.

Current members of this Committee are:

Reports from the current session of Parliament can be found here. 

Reports for prior sessions can be found here.

Public Accounts Committee

The Public Accounts Committee is one of the most powerful parliamentary committees as it looks across government and is mainly concerned with value-for-money of government spending judged by economy, effectiveness and efficiency.

Current members of this Committee are:

Reports from the current session of Parliament can be found here.

Reports for prior sessions can be found here.

Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the administration, expenditure and policy of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and its associated public bodies, including Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). This committee has responsibility for NMW policy.

Current members of this Committee are:

Reports from the current session of Parliament can be found here.
Reports for prior sessions can be found here.

Updated 22 March 2013