Public Services Committee

LordsSelectest. 13 Feb 2020Email ↗● Actively Monitored
← All CommitteesWatch committee
Sessions analysed22
Commitments26
Positions65
Recommendations66

Latest Signals

24 Jun 2026Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act provisions on admissionsLegislative
“[Speaker: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson] To give credit to the DfE, this year we have seen some positive steps, and in the estate strategy at the beginning of the year, it was talking about how to use additional capacity on the estate. In the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, there are three key measures: Section 61, which places a duty on schools, including academies, to co-operate with local authorities; Section 62, which gives local authorities the power to direct academies to admit children in the same way it can with maintained schools; and Section 64, through which the Office of the Schools Adjudicator has the power to set a plan where it agrees with an objection.”
24 Jun 2026Falling rolls are uneven and hit deprived schools hardestNational Foundation for Educational ResearchConcern
24 Jun 2026Current falling-rolls funding thresholds are too restrictiveNational Foundation for Educational ResearchConcern
24 Jun 2026Government action is moving in the right direction, but slowlyEducation Policy InstitutePosition
24 Jun 2026Falling rolls are driving staffing cuts and reduced supportAssociation of School and College LeadersConcern
24 Jun 2026Mixed-age classes are expanding without enough evidence or guidanceNational Foundation for Educational ResearchConcern
24 Jun 2026No joined-up strategy or shared platform for dataAssociation of School and College LeadersConcern
17 Jun 2026Falling rolls are spreading beyond London and hit rural/coastal schools hardestConfederation of School TrustsConcern

Recent Sessions

View all (22)
01 Jul 2026School rolls, SEND and PE funding reforms
5 commit6 pos1 disag
24 Jun 2026Primary rolls: funding, planning and school closures
1 pos5 concern4 rec1 leg
17 Jun 2026Falling school rolls: funding, rurality and SEND
1 pos5 concern2 rec1 leg
29 Apr 2026Ambulance services, triage and neighbourhood care
6 commit5 pos3 concern2 rec
22 Apr 2026Urgent and emergency care: ambulance role, corridor care
3 pos5 concern2 rec
15 Apr 2026Ambulance services, demand and ED handovers
1 commit4 pos7 concern6 rec

Recent Commitments

View all (26)

Recent Recommendations

View all (66)

Frequent Witnesses

NHS England3× · 16 insights
Department of Health and Social Care2× · 19 insights
DWP1× · 15 insights
Department for Work and Pensions1× · 14 insights
Department for Education1× · 12 insights
The Language Shop1× · 10 insights

About this committee

Scrutiny of public services delivery across health, medicines, and criminal justice falls within the remit of this House of Lords select committee. The committee operates in the Upper House, taking oral evidence from ministers, NHS leaders, industry representatives, and other expert witnesses to examine policy and operational performance. Its inquiries run across multiple policy areas concurrently, allowing comparative assessment of systemic pressures and resilience. The committee has pursued an extended inquiry into ambulance service capacity and emergency department pressures, hearing evidence on how urgent and emergency care systems manage patient flow and the role of ambulance services in wider NHS resilience during 2026. Separately, it has investigated medicines supply resilience across a series of sessions examining industry perspectives, NHS England operational readiness, and Department of Health and Social Care policy, with witnesses including DHSC officials and industry representatives throughout late 2025. Most recently, the committee has also examined the intersection of policing, courts, technology and artificial intelligence, reflecting its broad oversight of public services beyond health.