Select committees currently accepting written evidence (compiled 30 April 2025)

Please click the title of any inquiry listed below to be taken to a summary of that inquiry and the full call for evidence. Remember that you don’t have to answer every question posed in each call for evidence.

New calls for evidence:

All other inquiries currently accepting written evidence:

From lecture to legislature

Have you ever considered setting a policy-communication exercise for your students?

The Knowledge Exchange Unit is collaborating with the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) to launch a community of practice for practitioners who use policy communication as an assessment method for undergraduates or postgraduates.

On Wednesday 7 May 13:00-14:30, you can join us to explore the use of a mock POSTnote as an authentic policy communication assessment exercise. The event will explore how a POSTnote is researched, written, and used in UK Parliament to help course leaders set and mark this style of research to policy communication with real-world applicability.

The session will be presented by Professor the Lord Mair CBE, Chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, Oliver Bennett MBE, Head of the Parliamentary Office and Science and Technology, and Sarah Carter-Bell, Knowledge Exchange Manager at UK Parliament.

You can find more information and register for the webinar on Eventbrite.

Why should I engage? Using policy communication as an assessment method for university students gives them an opportunity to develop key knowledge and skills for their future employment. It helps them see the importance and applications of research, understand more about the policy-making process, and build transferable research and writing skills. 

Contributions for new POSTnote: Regional differences in healthy life expectancy

Regional differences in healthy life expectancy: Healthy life expectancy is the average number of years that a person can expect to live in good health. Healthy life expectancy varies greatly across different areas of England. Years lived in poor health can reduce quality of life, increase demand on healthcare services, and have wider economic impacts, such as reduced ability to work.

This POSTnote will assess the evidence on interventions for reducing regional differences in healthy life expectancy in England. It will also briefly outline how healthy life expectancy differs across regions in England and summarise the evidence on contributing factors. We welcome information on issues relevant to the project. Please note that we are only able to consider contributions directly related to healthy life expectancy and differences between geographical areas.

Publication expected in July 2025. The deadline to submit a contribution is Friday23 May 2025, 23:59.

Please familiarise yourself with the new guidance before submitting your contribution to the new POST projects.  

Reminder: your contributions can be emailed to post@parliament.uk until the deadline stated above. 

Contributions for new POSTnote: Winter mortality (and we’re trialling a new way of receiving your contributions!)

We’re always keen to innovate in the KEU, so we’re trialling a new way of receiving contributions from researchers to inform POSTnotes.

Just as the blossom, picnic blankets, and sunscreens are coming out, we’re looking to the colder months as our POST colleagues start to research Winter mortality.

This POSTnote will summarise evidence for the causes of winter mortality. It will consider social, economic and geographic factors that increase vulnerability to winter mortality, and evidence for effective health and social care interventions. It will also look at international comparisons and seasonal pressure on the NHS.

For this POSTnote, we’re asking researchers to share information about their work via this form instead of via email. 

The deadline to submit information is Wednesday 4 June, 23:59.

We hope this will be a quicker and easier way to get your brilliant research to us. If you have any feedback about the form please do let us know!

Why should I engage?
POSTnotes are used by Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and UK Parliament staff to navigate complex research. Contributing to a POSTnote is a good way of feeding your expertise into the UK Parliament as part of a trusted, impartial publication.

All contributors are acknowledged when the POSTnote is published. On publication, you and your organisation’s communications team will be notified to publicise the POSTnote and your contribution. Therefore your contribution can help raise your profile and promote your research.

More information

Reminders

  • POST and the British Psychology Society (BPS) are offering a 13-week fellowship to PhD students in a psychology-related subject and who are a Member of the British Psychological Society. The successful applicant will be based in UK Parliament supporting its use of research evidence. The fellowship lasts 13 weeks (full-time) or longer if part-time. It may be undertaken remotely, at POST’s offices in Westminster, or under hybrid working arrangements. The successful applicant will start their fellowship by January 2026 or by April 2026. The opportunity will be funded by the BPS and successful candidates will receive a one-off stipend payment of £7,922.50. Read the application guidance document for more information. Application deadline: Sunday 4 May at 11.59pm.
  • The KEU are looking for an Arts and Humanities Research Fellow. This 12-month Research Fellowship (minimum 3 days a week) is kindly funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It is open to junior researchers or knowledge exchange professionals with research skills who are employed by a university or one of UKRI’s Eligible Independent Research Organisations or Research Institutes. In this role, you will develop and deliver a mixed-methods research project, culminating in the production of a report for policy audiences and an academic journal article for the research community. This will help establish and evidence the use of arts and humanities research in the UK Parliament and more broadly, make a valuable contribution in an area where there is a lack of evidence. We ran a virtual information session on 26 March and will be sharing the session recording in this round-up and on our website in the next couple of weeks. You can find more information about the role, including information on how to apply here. The deadline for applications is 23:55, Tuesday 6 May.

Because we don’t live in an ideal world

Debating is one of the key activities of parliamentarians. But where does the word come from? I’m afraid we’re back to another French lesson again this week.

‘Debate’ comes from the Old French ‘debatre’; from ‘de-‘ “down” and ‘batre’ “to beat”.

Now obviously beating each other up in the Chamber is not allowed. Nor are the Members allowed to call each other a coward or a swine (see our Fun Fact from 20 March). However, we can take something from this valuable etymological insight.

If you want to influence scrutiny, legislation or policy, sometimes you have to fight for it.

So what?

In an ideal world, you would send an email to your MP and ask them to table a question to a government minister. Your MP would then pose the evidence-informed question to the minister. The minister would then be so overcome by the question and evidence that they would go away and ask the department to rework government policy on the matter. We can all dream.

In practice, however, that’s not usually how it goes.

If you’re wanting to influence policy, scrutiny, or legislation, your best bet is to go at it from multiple approaches, via multiple pathways, on multiple occasions. Depending on the influence you’re wanting to have, you might want to try to approach people on both the Parliament and Government side. You might also want to think about collaborating with others who can also influence policy (such as charities), or sharing your message where decision-makers will see it (the press). Sometimes, it’s just a question of timing. So if you find you don’t get traction when you first try, keep your eye on what’s going on in Parliament and Government and the media, because things can change very quickly, so you need to be ready to leap on an opportunity when it arises.