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Administration Committee

I will make some progress now. One reason for the delay on Select Committees is that the Government have found that the two-term rule was not quite what they thought. There is no doubt that behind the scenes there have been debates about changes that the Government sought to make but were not possible under a strict interpretation of the rules. The motion on the eight-year limit is sensible, although it is disappointing that the deadline has been set at a particular date. It would be unfortunate to reach the point where a Select Committee chairmanship expires on 22 October, or whatever the date may be, potentially in mid-report while work is still pending. I would have preferred the term of office to expire at the end of the parliamentary Session beyond the date on which the eight years is reached. I suggest that we should review how that works, and if we discover that it causes operational difficulties for Committees, let us be willing to adapt the rule so that there is not a cast-iron cut-off date but a natural termination at the end of the Session of Parliament. From my experience of Committee work, had the hon. Lady been in that position midway through an important report, it would have been a loss to the Committee.