The Liberal Democrats and the Health and Social Care Select Committee
Parliament has spent most of this week arguing over the existence of a £22 billion “blackhole” in the British public finances. However, beyond this debate, an important announcement was made in Parliament which could be easily overlooked: the allocation of Chairs for Parliamentary Select Committees.
In the allocation for the next five years, the Liberal Democrats scored a significant coup: the Chairmanship of the Health and Social Care Select Committee. In recent years, the Select Committee has published damning analyses of the Government’s track record on digital transformation, workforce, and the establishment of ICSs.
Select Committees have the ability to establish expert panels, and the Government is compelled, by law, to respond to its findings. The Chair of a Select Committee can grill Ministers and senior NHS figures at regular intervals, assessing their performance and delivery in forensic detail. For all the theatre of the Commons Chamber, Select Committees are where the work of holding the Government to account really gets done.
In the allocation of the Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, the Liberal Democrats have a singular opportunity to make good of their election promise: to be the party of the NHS and Social Care, and the “real” opposition to Government. The Select Committee is a forum by which the Lib Dems can challenge the Government on its key election pillars: access to GP appointments, dentistry, and the future of social care.
However, in Chairing the Health and Social Care Select Committee, the Liberal Democrats now face a conundrum. Who to put forward for the role?
Daisy Cooper would appear the obvious choice, based on her long-standing track record as the party Health and Social Care Spokesperson. Beyond Cooper, the Liberal Democrats are light on NHS expertise. Their new parliamentary cohort is largely made up of first-time MPs with little firsthand experience of working in the NHS between them. If Daisy Cooper is to take up the role of the Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, she would have to forfeit her party Spokesperson role, as well as that of Deputy Leader.
The Liberal Democrats, therefore, have a decision to make. Where can they most effectively challenge the Government? Is it by raising questions in the theatre of the House of Commons chamber or is it by putting Government policy under a spotlight in the fine print of the Health and Social Care Select Committee.
The Liberal Democrats would do well to look towards the latter and to seriously consider where Daisy Cooper’s experience and good standing across the political parties is best placed.
