PRIVILEGE
The proceedings of a committee are privileged, which means that words spoken in a public or private formal meeting are subject to the same level of protection from legal action or criminal investigation as words spoken in the Chamber. The same protection (for slightly different reasons) applies to anything formally published by a committee under an order of the House.
The protection applies equally to witnesses. This safeguard is intended to prevent select committees from being obstructed by threats of legal action.
But it’s important to remember that in all cases the protection is restricted to formal proceedings and includes only formal evidence and reports published under the authority of the committee. Words used outside formal meetings (for example in a media interview, even if claiming to represent what was said during proceedings, or at a press conference even if purporting to report what has been said in a report) or things said in letters, emails or other places (for example X, formally Twitter) do not receive this protection.
CONFIDENTIALITY
You might want to give access to committee papers to a member of your staff. Just as discussions in a private meeting must remain private, committee papers are confidential to the committee unless and until a decision is taken to publish them, usually as evidence to an inquiry or as part of a final report. Documents which are especially sensitive, for example draft reports or legal advice, can usually only be directly shared with members.
You are responsible for ensuring that your staff respect the confidentiality of any committee papers to which they are given access.
Disclosure of a paper that has not been formally reported to the House – particularly a draft report, or a report agreed but not yet officially made to the House – is a contempt of the House. This includes disclosing a draft report to other MPs.
As well as the contempt of the House, confidence among committee members about their ability to reach a consensus on controversial issues may be lost if draft committee reports, or other sensitive documents, are disclosed before they are due to be published.
If a paper is leaked, the committee may investigate and make a special report to the House. Any such report is automatically referred to the Committee of Privileges and could lead to action against any MP, or any other person, who had prematurely disclosed a paper. For an MP, this action could include suspension from the House.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
The House of Commons is a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act. In principle, this means select committees are obliged to release information they hold when duly requested. However, there are two exemptions in the Act that apply in particular to their work. These are where release would:
- infringe the privileges of the House (generally taken to include the right of any committee to decide whether, when and how to publish information it holds, including especially information about its private deliberations and material received in connection with its inquiries)
- inhibit the effective conduct of public business
These two exemptions depend on the Speaker certifying any exemption claimed. There is also an exemption for material intended to be published in the reasonably near future. Most material received by select committees is published anyway so would fall under this exemption.
Other information, such as the cost of visits, may not be exempt and is normally published by the committee.
If you have any questions about the application of the Act in relation to your work on a select committee, you can ask the clerk of your committee for advice.