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Committee Corridor

Committee Corridor

By House of Commons

Welcome to Committee Corridor, the weekly podcast that brings together Members of Parliament from the different select committees in the House of Commons to interview experts and discuss the most pressing political, social and economic matters facing the UK today.

Join our hosts Caroline Nokes (Chair, Women and Equalities Committee) and Catherine McKinnell (Chair, Petitions Committee) as they delve into matters of equality and democracy, in the latest batch of episodes leading up to summer 2023.
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Violence against Women and Girls

Committee CorridorJul 26, 2023

00:00
44:00
Violence against Women and Girls

Violence against Women and Girls

Prevention, education and safeguarding: culture change at every level will be crucial to how we tackle violence against women and girls.


In the final podcast of this season’s Committee Corridor, host Caroline Nokes MP hears from three women who have taken part in select committee inquiries which consider different aspects of violence against women and girls. 

The term “violence against women and girls” is used to describe a wide range of abuses, from harassment in work and public life to domestic abuse, sexual assault and the most serious offences.

Andrea Simon, the Director of End Violence Against Women Coalition; Dawn Dines, founder of Stamp out Spiking, and Carolyn Harris MP, a member of the Home Affairs and Women and Equalities Committees, explore the interventions which are required to confront behaviour which normalises violence against women and girls. The podcast includes content on sexual harassment and violence in schools, spiking, stealthing and discussion of the investigation and prosecution of rape. 

Ending violence against women and girls “is everyone’s business”, Andrea tells Caroline. “We know that ultimately, we live in a world that unless we address those underlying causes and excuses for violence against women, we won't be able to create the change that we need to see.”

 

Your host, for the final time in this series, is Caroline Nokes, Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee and the Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North. 

 

We understand that the issues raised in the podcast may be sensitive or upsetting and the following organisations may be able to offer support or further information:  

Samaritans - Call 116 123 - 24 hours a day, every day | Email jo@samaritans.org

Refuge: free, 24 hour national domestic abuse helpline: Home | Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline (nationaldahelpline.org.uk)

Rape Crisis England and Wales: Want to talk? | Rape Crisis England & Wales

Support from women's aid: Home - Women's Aid (womensaid.org.uk)

Respect: Men's advice line Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men | Men's Advice Line UK (mensadviceline.org.uk)


We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠⁠.

Jul 26, 202344:00
What happens to Parliamentary petitions?

What happens to Parliamentary petitions?

Around a quarter of the UK's adult population have signed a petition to Parliament. It's one of the ways that UK residents can alert members of Parliament to concerns that matter to them and make their voices heard.

Petitions to the UK Parliament e-petition site ask for a change to the law or to policy. Since launching eight years ago, more than 30,000 petitions have been created, attracting more than 110 million signatures – and 350 of them have been debated by MPs. 

Today, podcast host Catherine McKinnell MP, unwraps how the process works and ask how petitions can make a difference, through the experience of Andy Airey.

Andy is one third of ‘Three Dads Walking’ who petitioned Parliament to make suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum.

Andy's daughter Sophie took her own life in 2018, aged 29. He campaigns alongside Mike Palmer and Tim Owen, who lost their daughters, Beth and Emily, at the ages of 17 and 19.

They are joined by Nick Fletcher, the member of the Petitions Committee who opened the debate in the House of Commons. Nick is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Don Valley. 

A Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds, Cristina Leston-Bandeira works on how Parliaments engage the public, particularly through petitions. She sets out why petitions are important and how the UK compares to other countries and legislatures.

Your host, for the final time in this series, is Catherine McKinnell, the Chair of the Petitions Committee at the House of Commons and Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North.

We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠.

Jul 21, 202339:10
What's next for Voter ID?
Jul 14, 202340:22
Women in sport
Jul 07, 202344:01
The impact of declining local journalism
Jun 30, 202339:30
Education report card, post-pandemic
Jun 22, 202338:10
Series 4 Teaser
Jun 15, 202302:21
Rights at work and season update
Apr 28, 202332:36
Marking 25 years of environmental scrutiny: a Committee Corridor special
Mar 23, 202325:27
A criminal justice system in crisis?

A criminal justice system in crisis?

A significant backlog of Crown Court cases hitting more than 60,000 by September 2022; the highest rate of prisoners on remand for 50 years and court buildings in poor repair. Committee Corridor continues its series on human rights and justice, asking whether the criminal justice system in England and Wales in crisis.

Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg joins podcast host Joanna Cherry to consider the most pressing problems facing the sector. Top of the list is recruitment and a lack of young people able to practise criminal law. Unless there are enough lawyers, there will be repercussions for the whole system, he says.  They also consider the need for investment, research on rape convictions and the broadcasting of sentencing.

Joanna then turns to Chair of the Home Affairs Committee and Labour MP, Diana Johnson; and Chair of the Justice Committee, Conservative MP, Sir Bob Neill, to hear what evidence their Committees have uncovered and what should be top of the Government’s to-do list.

The Justice Committee has conducted a number of inquiries looking in detail at the current state of the justice system, including Court Capacity and the role of adult custodial remand. The Home Affairs Committee has reported on the investigation and prosecution of rape. It is currently examining how the police service can reform to meet future challenges.

We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. Tell us what you think via our feedback form

Mar 16, 202340:31
Does the Human Rights Act need to be reformed?

Does the Human Rights Act need to be reformed?

25 years ago, the landmark Human Rights Act changed the way in which human rights were enforced throughout the United Kingdom.

The Act gave domestic effect to the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the convention in 1951.

Last year, the Government brought forward legislation for a British Bill of Rights, which would repeal and replace the Human Rights Act, but would place limitations on the interpretation and enforcement of those rights.

Host Joanna Cherry is joined by Professor Francesca Klug who considers the impact of the Act and offers practical examples of its application, looking at the rights of people in care homes during the pandemic and changes to the scope of inquests which contributed to the establishment of the Hillsborough, Grenfell Tower and COVID-19 inquiries.

Professor Klug was part of the legal team which assisted the 1998 Government to devise the model that gave effect to the European Convention on Human Rights in our domestic law, and part of the Government's task force which oversaw the implementation of the act in its early days. She has been awarded an OBE for her services to human rights.

Joanna is then joined by the Liberal Democrat Peer, Baroness Sarah Ludford and David Simmonds MP, Conservative member of Parliament for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner who were members of the cross-party Joint Committee on Human Rights when it published its report into Human Rights Act reform, which inspired the focus of this episode of the podcast.

Mar 02, 202339:23
Adoption of the children of unmarried mothers from the 1940s-1970s

Adoption of the children of unmarried mothers from the 1940s-1970s

In this week's episode of Committee Corridor, we hear the stories of two women who suffered great pain and great loss as a result of decisions which were taken out of their hands. From the 1940s to the 1970s, tens of thousands of children were adopted simply because their mothers weren't married, and even though their mothers did not want to let them go.

Last year, the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights published a report about the adoption of children of unmarried women from 1940s-1970s. Podcast host Joanna Cherry speaks to two women directly affected about their experiences before catching up with Harriet Harman KC MP about the outcomes from the Joint Committee’s work.

Ann Keen was born in 1948 in North Wales. She became pregnant and was sent to a mother and baby home at the age of just 17, back in 1966. She went on to work in the NHS as a nurse, and later, she served as the Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth from 1997 to 2010.

Liz Harvie was born in a maternity hospital in Northampton in 1974, her birth mother was unmarried. Liz was adopted at eight-weeks-old, and she lived with her adopted parents, and her brother, also adopted, who joined the family, two years later.

We understand that the issues raised in the podcast may be sensitive or upsetting and the following organisations may be able to offer support or further information:

Samaritans - Call 116 123 - 24 hours a day, every day | Email jo@samaritans.org

PAC-UK  - Independent Adoption Support Agency offering: Advice, Support, Counselling & Training. The advice line is available on 020 7284 5879 and 0113 230 2100.

Adoption UK Charity – For information on a range of adoption-related issues and campaigns for improvements to adoption policy and legislation. The helpline is available on 0300 666 0006.

We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. Tell us what you think via our feedback form

Feb 16, 202344:21
Modern Slavery and the UK
Feb 01, 202341:07
Series 3 Teaser
Jan 30, 202301:54
The cost of living: rising food prices, rising debt

The cost of living: rising food prices, rising debt

As the cost of living remains close to its highest level for 40 years, the final episode in our series on the cost of living crisis asks who is paying - and how.

Rebecca McDonald, chief economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation tells host Darren Jones MP that many families are struggling to meet basic costs such as food. A recent survey by the social change organisation revealed that 2.4 million households had borrowed on credit cards to pay essential bills in the past few months. Bank of England increases in the base borrowing rates have pushed up interest, increasing the costs of debt. Although the Government should get credit for the support given to low income households so far, she asks why the safety net of social security has not been adequate in the current ‘economic shock’ and calls for support for people on low incomes to be reassessed to provide a decent quality of life.

Turning to the Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Sir Robert Goodwill MP, Darren asks what’s pushing up the cost of food and they consider the impact on the farming sector. The Committee recently published a report on food security.

Harriett Baldwin, Chair of the Treasury Committee describes the ‘pernicious’ effect of inflation as a ‘tax on the poorest in society.’ She discusses recommendations to spread cost of living payments across winter months to avoid ‘cliff-edges’ for those on low incomes.

This episode airs as Government borrowing hit its highest November level since records began in 1993, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, the JRF’s chief economist said it was necessary to  support households and the economy so that things don't get worse and a better recovery is possible.

We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠

Dec 22, 202236:45
UK path to net zero: a COP 27 special
Dec 08, 202237:56
Securing the UK's energy future
Nov 24, 202241:02
Jobs and the workforce

Jobs and the workforce

On today’s episode of Committee Corridor we continue our look at the cost-of-living crisis and turn to jobs and workforce concerns.

There are hundreds of thousands of job vacancies in some of the UK’s most critical sectors. Health, education and transport all face challenges in recruiting and retaining key staff.

To examine the situation further, we spoke to Christina McAnea, the head of UNISON, one of the UK’s largest trade unions with over a million members in the private and public sector. She describes the emerging challenges faced by her members during this cost of living crisis.

We then spoke to two select committee members, @IanMearnsMP and @gregsmith_uk.

Ian Mearns is the Labour MP for Gateshead, and a longtime member of the education committee. They've been looking at careers’ education and the future of post-16 qualifications. The Committee published a report on special educational needs and disabilities in 2019, which took more than 500 pieces of written evidence into account.

Greg Smith is the Conservative MP for Buckingham, and sits on the transport committee.  They recently published a report on another sector coping with the shortage of workers; HGV drivers, who we rely on to deliver essential goods like fuel and food around the UK. They've also been looking at the disruption caused by rail strikes.

Your host is @darrenpjones, the chair of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.

We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠

Nov 10, 202233:32
Coping with rising energy bills
Oct 26, 202237:18
The cost of living
Oct 12, 202234:12
Series 2 Trailer
Oct 11, 202202:01
State hostage-taking: Can Parliament help?
Jul 20, 202237:39
War in Ukraine - the threat to the Baltic states
Jul 06, 202235:13
The UK’s 'dirty money'
Jun 22, 202231:33
Taiwan: democracy in danger

Taiwan: democracy in danger

In the third episode of Committee Corridor, host and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) speaks with Jaushieh Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, about the dangers to democracy in Taiwan, how the situation has changed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the potential global economic impacts of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

In the second part of the episode, fellow parliamentarians Darren Jones MP (@darrenpjones), the Labour MP for Bristol North West and Chairs of the House of Commons’ Business Committee, and Lord Stirrup, former Chief of the Defence Staff, cross-bench Member of the House of Lords and member of the Lords’ International Relations and Defence Committee, Tom Tugendhat MP to consider the implications for the UK and wider world.

Find out more about the Foreign Affairs Committee on their website.

We want to learn more about our audience and why you listen to the Committee Corridor podcast. ⁠Tell us what you think via our feedback form⁠

Jun 08, 202235:04
The continuing crisis in Afghanistan
May 25, 202235:42
The War in Ukraine
May 11, 202232:47
Trailer

Trailer

Brought to you by the House of Commons, Committee Corridor is a brand new podcast featuring Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum speaking with experts on the most pressing political, social and economic matters facing the UK today.

Tune in from the 12th of May for the first episode and gain deeper knowledge of the issues that the cross-party select committees are considering. New episodes out fortnightly.

Apr 29, 202201:15