The Justice Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Ministry of Justice and its associated public bodies (including the work of staff provided for the administrative work of courts and tribunals, but excluding consideration of individual cases and appointments, and excluding the work of the Scotland and Wales Offices and of the Advocate General for Scotland); and administration and expenditure of the Attorney General's Office, the Treasury Solicitor's Department, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office (but excluding individual cases and appointments and advice given within government by Law Officers).

Current membership

Rt Hon Sir Alan Beith MP (Liberal Democrat, Berwick-upon-Tweed) (Chairman)

David Heath MP (Liberal Democrats, Somerton and Frome)

Siân James MP (Labour, Swansea East)

Daniel Kawczynski MP (Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Jessica Morden MP (Labour, Newport East)

Julie Morgan MP (Labour, Cardiff North)

Rt Hon Alun Michael MP (Labour Co-op, Cardiff South and Penarth)

Robert Neill MP (Conservative, Bromley and Chislehurst)

Dr Nick Palmer MP (Labour, Broxtowe)

Linda Riordan MP (Labour Co-op, Halifax)

Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing Southall)

Andrew Turner MP (Conservative, Isle of Wight)

Andrew Tyrie MP (Conservative, Chichester)

Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test)

Powers

The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk

Publications

The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House.

All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/justicecom

Committee staff

The current staff of the Committee are Roger Phillips (Clerk), Dr Rebecca Davies (Second Clerk), Ruth Friskney (Adviser (Sentencing Guidelines)), Ian Thomson (Committee Assistant), Hannah Stewart, (Committee Legal Specialist), Sonia Draper (Secretary), Henry Ayi-Hyde (Senior Office Clerk), Gemma Buckland (Committee Specialist) and Jessica Bridges-Palmer (Committee Media Officer).

Contacts

Correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Justice Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 8196 and the email address is justicecom@parliament.uk

Footnotes

In the footnotes for this Report, references to oral evidence taken by the Justice Committee are indicated by 'Q' followed by the question number. References to oral evidence taken by the Home Affairs Committee are indicated by 'Q' followed by the question followed by HAC as in 'Q23 (HAC)'. References to written evidence published by the Home Affairs Committee are indicated by the page number as in 'Ev 12'. References to written evidence published by the Justice Committee are indicated by the page number followed by JSC as in 'Ev 12 (JSC)'.