Select committees currently accepting written evidence (compiled 11 June 2025)

New calls for evidence:

All other inquiries currently accepting written evidence:

Why should I engage? Submitting evidence to a select committee can lead to further engagement, such as an invitation to give oral evidence. Your submission will be published on the Committee webpage. Your insights may inform the Committee’s conclusions or recommendations it makes to the Government. Find out more about why to engage with Parliament here. And find more on engagement for impact here.  

More information: all inquiries currently accepting evidence are found here  
Guidance on submitting evidence to Commons select committees
Guidance on submitting evidence to Lords select committees

So much more than just a reminder…

We’d love to hear from you on the following engagement opportunities:

Specialist adviser to the House of Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee: Support scrutiny of the draft Finance Bill by reviewing its clauses, drafting the call for evidence, attending sub-committee meetings to assist deliberations, drafting reports, and advising on expert contacts that may support the sub-committee’s work through this prestigious fractional remunerated role. Read the full details of the specialist adviser role. For more information, email financebill@parliament.uk. 

  • To apply, send a CV and short covering letter setting out your suitability for the post to the Finance Bill Sub-Committee by Wednesday 25 June 2025, 12:00. Interviews will likely be held in the week commencing 7 July. 

Engineering Fellowship: The Ashok Kumar fellowship offers engineering masters or doctoral students (or recent completers) the opportunity to apply for a funded fellowship in POST preparing briefing materials for parliamentarians on emerging science topics.

Parliamentary fellowship (chemistry): A funded (3 month*) fellowship is open to Royal Society of Chemistry members** who are undertaking or have recently finished their PhD study. The successful applicant will be based in the UK Parliament, supporting its use of research evidence by preparing briefing material for parliamentarians on emerging science topics.
*The fellowship can be carried out full-time for 13 weeks or part-time over a longer period. The start date will fall within the period between January 2026 and October 2026.
** Potential applicants who are not already a member of the RSC can apply to join prior to submitting their fellowship application.

UKRI policy internships: Funded placements are available to current or recent PhD students to intern at UK Parliament within POST, a select committee, or the House of Commons or House of Lords Libraries. An online information session will be held on Thursday 3 July for prospective applicants. Email post@parliament.uk to book to attend the information session.

These internships are part of the wider UKRI scheme: view the full range of hosts for the Policy Internships scheme – it includes parliamentary teams, government departments and non-governmental bodies, learned societies and other organisations. Look through the detailed information about all the UKRI Policy Internships. Or access more information on the internships based in POST. Information on the funding arrangements is in the applicant guidance (Annex A).

Off the table, onto the docket

Since 1963 the sub judice rule has prevented MPs and peers* from referring to a current or impending court case in parliamentary business, such as debates and parliamentary questions. Although the House is entitled under parliamentary privilege to discuss any subject, sub judice applies to avoid parliament potentially influencing the legal outcome of a case. However, some MPs have inevitably been concerned about the inability to discuss matters being litigated, and the Speaker of the House of Commons has discretion to waive the sub judice rule (here’s one waiver example).

Early in 2025, the Speaker committed to ensuring the sub judice rule remains fit for purpose and the Commons Procedure Select Committee opened an inquiry into sub judice resolution last week.

So what?
When there is media interest or a ‘hot’ topic of national interest this is usually a brilliant time to share your research with parliamentarians. However, sub judice means parliamentarians will not actively engage, even if the research topic is broader than the specific issue in front of the courts.

Writing for media is a great alternative for researchers to provide evidence-based perspectives during the sub judice period. Parliamentarians will continue to read and follow matters, ready for when Parliament can debate it. Short lay focused blogs, media interviews, podcasts and articles are welcomed by policy makers as quick, engaging content. It’s also a great time for researchers to update their policy briefs and prepare to reach out once the case has concluded.

The sub judice rule also doesn’t apply to legislation already in train without a waiver from the Speaker, because Parliament can legislate on any subject. So, researchers can continue to contribute to legislative debates but should be careful to identify the specific scope of concurrent legal cases, and the points directly relevant to the legislation under debate.

* Boffin Spot (bonus fact)
Parliamentary business follows many conventions which can seem bewildering and complex to the uninitiated. Here in the KEU, we like to keep things simple and focus on the points which affect researchers first. However, we’d like to offer a point of precision on this week’s fact.

Prior to 2009, the House of Lords was both a legislative and a judicial chamber. This meant discussion of live cases (which would be sub judice) did technically take place in the Upper Chamber, to fulfil the Lords judicial function. This was transferred to the new Supreme Court (under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) in October 2009. Now that the judicial function has moved to the Supreme Court the House of Lords is purely legislative in function and sub judice applies.

Finally, for our linguistic fans ‘sub judice’ comes from Latin meaning ‘under a judge’.

More information

The parliamentary rules governing sub judice are set out in Standing Orders. Here are the links for UK Parliament and for the devolved legislatures:

Or, for the express version, see pages 21-22 of the House of Commons Library briefing

Acknowledgment
With big thanks to one of my favourite boffins, Dr Ruth Lamont, Thematic Research Lead for Crime and Justice, who helped this bewildered KEUer make sense of the Lords historical justice system.