Respecting private rights, pursuing public interests

Date: January 2018 - December 2018

Researcher: Conducted jointly with the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law where the PI, Dr Lawrence McNamara, also holds a post.

Funder: British Academy

There is a sense that parliamentary select committees are increasingly exercising their powers very broadly and subjecting the governance, management and operation of private companies to scrutiny more than ever before. Whilst there is a public interest and benefit from such scrutiny, concerns have been raised about procedural fairness, lack of clarity in rules, the relationship of committee hearings with parallel legal or regulatory proceedings, and the possibility of overreach by committees in the exercise of their powers. As such, it gives rise to a tension between respecting private rights and pursuing public interests. Surprisingly, this dimension of committees’ work has attracted little scholarly attention. This project seeks to remedy that gap. It asks: how do parliamentary committees balance private rights and public interests when they engage with the private sector? Analysing committee data and using research interviews, the project aims to provide insights into how coercive powers are exercised in practice, including the processes by which contentious issue are resolved.