Have Your Say: Calls for Evidence
A Select Committee call for evidence is an opportunity for committee members (MPs or Peers) to collate views from different groups. This process informs a committee’s scrutiny of Government, and allows them to provide policy recommendations. However too often ordinary members of the public do not feed in their own valuable experiences and opinions into these forums.
So we’re taking a monthly review of the select committees currently asking for evidence in the hope that more members of the public grasp the opportunity to engage and influence policy.
Featured calls for evidence (January 2020):
Below we list a few key calls for evidence that are currently open. By expanding the section you can see some of the key questions being asked by the committee. Click the links to learn more and submit evidence.
The Transport Committee will hold an inquiry into the implications of accelerating the shift to zero emissions vehicles and the potential for introducing road pricing, or pay-as-you-drive, schemes. We would welcome written evidence on the following matters:
Accelerating the shift to zero emission vehicles
- The feasibility, opportunities, and challenges presented by the acceleration of the ban of the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2030;
- The actions required by Government and private operators to encourage greater uptake of electric vehicles and the infrastructure required to support them;
- The particular challenges around decarbonising buses and how these should be addressed;
- The Government’s ambition to phase out the sale of new diesel heavy goods vehicles, including the scope to use hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
Road pricing
- The case for introducing some form of road pricing and the economic, fiscal, environmental and social impacts of doing so;
- Which particular road pricing or pay-as-you-drive schemes would be most appropriate for the UK context and the practicalities of implementing such schemes;
- The level of public support for road pricing and how the views of the public need to be considered in the development of any road pricing scheme;
- The lessons to be learned from other countries who are seeking to decarbonise road transport and/or utilise forms of road pricing.
The Committee is looking to receive written evidence on the following points:
- The police response to incidents of abuse and violence towards retail workers;
- Barriers to justice for victims of retail abuse and violence;
- Whether a new aggravated offence is required;
- The adequacy of the Government’s response to its call for evidence.
Please note that the Committee is not able to take up individual cases.
The Committee is not able to reopen any complaints against the police.
The Committee is not able to consider any matters that are currently subject to legal proceeding.
Survey
Aimed at retail workers who have experienced abuse or violence in the course of their work, the anonymous survey will ask about the reporting of incidents; the responses from employers, the police and the wider criminal justice system after a report; and victims’ satisfaction with the responses received.
The survey will be open until Friday 15 January 2021 and can be found here.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this survey you may wish to contact organisations such as Victim Support, the Samaritans, or the Health and Safety Executive for support and guidance. If you wish to report an incident, you can do so through Crimestoppers or your local police service.
There are plenty more open calls for evidence – which you can view here.
How to submit evidence
- Find the select committee inquiry you would like to contribute to.
- Read their call for evidence carefully, look at the questions they’re asking and pick out the ones you’d like to answer (you don’t have to answer every question!).
- Write a short introduction about you/your organisation (50-100 words). This should explain your link to the subject – tell the committee why they should listen to you.
- Set out the answers to the questions in a document. Make it clear which question you’re answering, and keep your contribution short and to the point.
- Try to substantiate your evidence with facts and research – committees love this.
- Once you’re finished, pick out the three or five key messages you want people to take away from your evidence and put these as bullet points at the very top of your evidence.
- Submit your evidence via the inquiry document portal.
What happens next
Any evidence submitted evidence will be sorted through and read committee staff. They’ll try to understand the key themes/findings recurring throughout the many pieces of evidence they receive, and present this to the committee members (MPs or Peers). Committee members themselves may also read through some of the individual pieces of evidence too.
Committee staff also make recommendations about who the committee should invite to give ‘Oral Evidence’, so if your evidence is really interesting you may be asked to meet with the committee where they can question you about your experience and opinions in person (or virtually!). This is usually broadcast on Parliament TV.
After a few oral evidence sessions committee members will produce a report based on what they’ve heard and read. This will contain some recommendations to Government on what should be done. The Government must then respond to the committee.
