Committee publication · Correspondence · 16 July 2026
Letter from the House Administration on implementation of the Committee’s recommendations, dated 19 May 2026
From: Procedure Committee
Summary
House Administration responds to the Procedure Committee's February 2026 recommendation that candidates for select committee chair elections be offered the opportunity to film short campaign videos for publication on the Parliamentary website. Administration acknowledges the proposal and commits to piloting it in by-elections during this Parliament, outlining practical constraints around timelines, resource requirements, and content rules.
Key findings
- House Administration will pilot video candidacy option in select committee chair by-elections before full rollout at start of next Parliament.
- September 2024 chair elections had 52 candidates for 27 posts; administration flags this scale requires substantial scheduling, filming, editing and clearance capacity.
- Nominations close 5pm day before election (or 12pm for by-elections); adding video production will require extending nomination closure to the week before election.
- Videos limited to 2 minutes, filmed by House staff in uniform venue with standardised backdrop and 'piece to camera' format to ensure level playing field.
- Light-touch rules proposed covering subtitling, copyright clearance, and parliamentary language; videos remain Members' responsibility and are not House productions.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
parliamentary-procedureelectionsselect-committees
Key actors
Cat Smith, Liz Hickey, James Rhys, House Administration, Procedure Committee, Dame Meg Hillier, Speaker
Notable line
“Offering each nominated candidate the opportunity to film a short video to be published through the Parliamentary website as recommended would be a substantial undertaking – House staff would need to schedule appointments with candidates …”
Key Quotes
“Offering each nominated candidate the opportunity to film a short video to be published through the Parliamentary website as recommended would be a substantial undertaking”
“Members will be responsible for the content of their videos, and they will not be branded as House productions.”
“… we would propose that videos should be limited in duration to two minutes”
“In order to ensure all candidates have a level playing field we suggest the videos would be filmed by House staff in a set venue on the parliamentary estate”
“We would propose not to operate the pilot for the current election of the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee. We would look to begin the pilot, with your agreement for any other future Committee Chair by-elections.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗