The first two weeks

The new Commons departmental Select Committees for this Parliament were finally set up on Monday 12 July, after what appears to have been a tortuous series of elections. (The Lords Committees, being still unelected, got going much sooner). Some of them set off like greyhounds out of the trap - notably the Treasury Committee which held its first hearing, with three different sets of witnesses, less than 12 hours after the results of the elections were confirmed by the Committee of Selection. Three Committees even met on 28 July, after the Commons had gone into its summer recess, of which more below. Others have adopted - what shall we say? - a more measured approach. Several Committees have not yet held any hearings at all, namely Communities and Local Government, Energy and Climate Change, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Foreign Affairs. The EFRA Committee, alone among all the departmental Committees, has not yet announced its first inquiry, although it has invited the Secretary of State along for an initial hearing in September. Northern Ireland Affairs was not set up until later than the others, because of continuing problems in settling the Labour membership, but has now got under way.

So, which are the ones to watch? Certainly the Treasury Committee under the severe chairmanship of Andrew Tyrie. It is clearly ahead of the rest in terms of activity levels, with five hearings already held, four inquiries on the go and its first report published after only one week of operations. But the new Political and Constitutional Reform Committee under Graham Allen, which was set up to scrutinise Nick Clegg's work and which has also already published its first report, is running it a close second and the Home Affairs Committee under the continuing chairmanship of Keith Vaz is probably third.

The Public Accounts Committee is always in a category of its own. It has started its work by bidding for additional freedoms under Standing Orders to appoint expert advisers, over and above the collective might of the NAO already available to it, and to hold meetings when Parliament is adjourned. It had to postpone a planned meeting on 28 July while other Committees, as noted above, were able to go ahead.

Over the next few weeks, I propose to analyse the more active Committees' work so far in more depth - so watch this space!