Constitution Committee

LordsSelectest. 28 Jun 2001Email ↗● Actively Monitored
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Sessions analysed30
Commitments29
Positions154
Recommendations81

Latest Signals

02 Sept 2026Cabinet Secretary and Head of Civil Service should be combinedPosition
“[Speaker: Lord O'Donnell] I was passionate about wanting to do both. I thought that the Civil Service needed someone who had the ear of the Prime Minister. That was the key to me. If you have a separate Head of the Civil Service, as we have done, they become “someone who’s in charge of HR and the Civil Service”. With Prime Ministers, it will go in the diary but nine times out of 10 it will come out of the diary. It will never happen.”
02 Sept 2026Referendums can damage parliamentary democracyPosition
02 Sept 2026FOI has improved transparency but can deter civil service participationPosition
02 Sept 2026Social media, AI and weak civic education threaten democracyPosition
02 Sept 2026Fixed-term Parliaments and slower election timing aid access talksPosition
02 Sept 2026Cabinet Manual should codify coalition precedents, not become rigid lawPosition
02 Sept 2026Cabinet Secretary should have a stronger constitutional guardian rolePosition
02 Sept 2026Relying on courts or police to police constitutional breaches is dangerousConcern

Recent Sessions

View all (30)
02 Sept 2026Cabinet Manual, coalition rules and constitutional safeguards
7 pos1 concern3 rec
15 Jul 2026Constitutional safeguards and Cabinet Secretary role
5 pos2 concern2 rec
10 Jun 2026Lady Chief Justice on court backlogs and reform
7 commit4 pos4 concern3 rec
03 Jun 2026Devolution, IGR and Cabinet Manual update
3 commit3 pos2 concern1 rec
22 Apr 2026Supreme Court: judiciary, AI and public trust
1 commit3 pos3 concern3 rec1 leg
25 Feb 2026Overseas Territories Joint Declaration and White Paper
3 pos6 concern3 rec

Recent Commitments

View all (29)

Recent Recommendations

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Frequent Witnesses

Cabinet Office3× · 23 insights
UK Government2× · 30 insights
Judiciary of England and Wales2× · 30 insights
Attorney-General’s Office1× · 17 insights
House of Lords / Judiciary1× · 14 insights
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office1× · 14 insights

About this committee

The Constitution Committee of the House of Lords examines the operation and reform of the UK's constitutional system, including the powers and procedures of Parliament, devolution arrangements, and central government accountability. Operating as a select committee of the second chamber, it conducts in-depth inquiries and takes oral evidence from ministers, experts and other witnesses. The committee has recently devoted substantial attention to the Overseas Territories Joint Declaration, scrutinising the governance implications of UK relations with Overseas Territories across multiple sessions through 2025 and early 2026, including evidence from witnesses such as Lord Rutley. Its inquiries have also examined parliamentary procedure, specifically the powers available to Parliament when making consequential amendments to legislation, and questioned Supreme Court representatives on matters of governance and public outreach in April 2026.