28 January 2015
Buckinghamshire County Council guide on the Select Committee process
Please note that the Select Committee process is a Parliamentary process, and
therefore the framework for this process is set by Parliament. This guide is intended
to provide information based on advice received by the council as well as
Buckinghamshire County Council’s knowledge. This document is not to be taken as
legal advice, but merely supplementary information which should be used alongside
official parliamentary guidance. Alternatively, you can contact the House of
Commons Private Bill Office at: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA, phone:
020 7219 3250, fax: 020 7219 3690, email: prbohoc@parliament.uk.
Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 1
Key people ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Watching the Select Committee......................................................................................................... 3
Programming......................................................................................................................................... 3
Site visits................................................................................................................................................ 4
Presenting to the Select Committee .................................................................................................. 4
Assumptions to be made about the Select Committee .................................................................. 5
Preparing for the Select Committee .................................................................................................. 5
Discussions with HS2 Ltd ................................................................................................................... 6
Joint petitions ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Should an appearance be made at all? ............................................................................................ 7
How will the committee make their decision? .................................................................................. 7
What can be achieved by the committee? ....................................................................................... 7
Exhibits, evidence and witnesses ...................................................................................................... 8
Time restrictions ................................................................................................................................. 10
Locus standi challenges .................................................................................................................... 10
Order of proceedings ......................................................................................................................... 10
Useful links .......................................................................................................................................... 11
Introduction
The Hybrid Bill process is relatively uncommon, and has only been used a handful of
times in the past, most recently in 2005 for Crossrail. As a result, for the vast majority
of people involved on all sides this is a new process, and therefore there are few
hard and fast rules. This is likely to change as experience is gained, and the only
way of getting a good idea of how the process will be run is by watching as many
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sessions as possible. This guide will be updated and circulated via e-updates as we
learn and experience more.
Key people
There are a number of key people who will be present during much of the Select
Committee process, and it may be useful to be aware of these.
Select Committee members
Member
Robert Syms (Chairman)
Henry Bellingham
Sir Peter Bottomley
Ian Mearns
Yasmin Qureshi
Mike Thornton
Constituency
Poole
North West Norfolk
Worthing West
Gateshead
Bolton South East
Eastleigh
Party
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
Labour
Labour
Liberal Democrat
Members have treated petitioners in a respectful manner, and have made an effort to
put petitioners and witnesses at ease. Overall the committee seem to be reasonably
interested in listening to petitioners, and have asked some good questions.
Three members of the Committee must be present at all times during Select
Committee proceedings, and on the whole all members have been present. However
there have been some cases of members leaving and arriving mid-session.
Petitioners must be prepared for members arriving/ leaving during their presentation.
The Clerk
Neil Caulfield is the Clerk, and advises both the Committee and petitioners on the
procedure. He sits next to the chairman during Select Committee sessions, and
plays an important role in advising the chairman. This can be seen as he whispers
information to the chairman throughout hearings.
Although Neil provides a useful channel of communication, it is not advisable to send
an excessive number of emails to him or phone him frequently. Instead, David
Walker (see below) should be the first call of contact for most issues.
Neil Caulfield is assisted by Miguel Boo Fraga, who is currently mainly involved in
administrative work. However as the process progresses, Miguel is likely to become
more involved in the non-administrative side.
Timothy Mould QC
Timothy Mould QC is the lead Counsel for the promoter, heading a team of
barristers. HS2’s counsel introduces HS2’s evidence; cross-examines petitioner’s
witnesses; and provides legal advice to HS2. Timothy also worked on the Crossrail
proposal and it is considered that he is likely to be courteous, particularly towards
individuals, action groups and Parish Councils.
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HS2 Witnesses
Professor Andrew McNaughton is likely to be the promoter’s primary witness on
engineering issues. In the case of Crossrail one person was used as the primary
witness on a wide range of topics. This resulted in a very good relationship between
the promoter’s primary witness and the Select Committee. This may happen again.
Petitioners should be prepared to encounter a familiarity between committee
members and HS2 witnesses.
David Walker
David Walker works for HS2 Ltd.’s Parliamentary Agent, Winckworth Sherwood. He
is the primary contact for programming and site visits. David should be contacted
initially if you have any issues regarding petition appearances and timetabling. It is
recommended that you should only contact Neil Caulfield if you do not get a
satisfactory response from David.
Watching the Select Committee
Members of the public can turn up and watch the Select Committee process without
giving prior notice. However, if large groups intend on attending a session it is
recommended that they contact Neil Caulfield in advance to ensure space is
available. It is recommended that you arrive around no later than half an hour before
the start of the session, to ensure sufficient time to pass through security.
It is strongly recommended that all petitioners who intend on appearing before the
Select Committee attend at least one Select Committee session in person. Although
you can watch this on Parliamentary television (link here), attending in person allows
you to see everyone involved, as well as the screens where evidence is shown.
Attending in person will also give you a better sense of the atmosphere, the body
language and interactions between those involved.
Programming
The Select Committee will hear petitioners in roughly geographical order, and it is
estimated that Buckinghamshire petitioners will appear in early 2015. However, this
date is not confirmed so it is vital that petitioners are prepared in advance in case the
Select Committee process moves forward quicker than expected. Within each
county, petitioners are likely to be heard in the following order:
 County council
 District councils
 Then within each district:
o Parish and town councils
o Community groups
o Public bodies
o Businesses
o Individuals
Petitioners should be given at least four weeks’ notice of their appearance, although
it is likely that petitioners will be contacted earlier to discuss possible dates.
Petitioners are expected to make themselves available, although there will be some
flexibility, for example for pre-booked holidays and illness.
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Petitioners should be asked by David Walker in advance how much time they will
require to present their petition. This information will be passed onto the Select
Committee, who may raise any concerns about estimates which they consider to be
too long, and seek justification.
On the day of your appearance it is possible that there will be some waiting around if
the previous petitioners take longer than expected. Although unlikely, it is possible
that you may be asked to return at a later date if there is not time to hear all
petitioners. However, it is expected that the chairman will ensure this does not
happen unless absolutely necessary.
Sitting times are generally as follows:
 Monday: 14.00-17.00 and 19.00-21.00
 Tuesday: 9.30-12.30 and 14.00-17.00
 Wednesday: 9.30-11.30 and 14.00-17.00
 Thursday: 9.30-12.30
Site visits
The Select Committee will visit key areas in Buckinghamshire that will be affected,
and the timetable for this will be released nearer the time. Buckinghamshire County
Council is working on a proposed itinerary for the visit, which will be put forward to
HS2 and the committee. Although the Select Committee will expect some banners
and a media presence, it is important to bear in mind that this is meant to be a purely
factual visit. It is important not to annoy the select committee members. Approaching
committee members, unless they appear amenable to it, could backfire. The
committee have taken documentation from people, but it has been made clear that it
will not be treated as evidence. If documentation is given to members it should be
short, or else they will not read it, and a barrage of leaflets from different individuals
and groups is obviously undesirable, so coordination is recommended.
Presenting to the Select Committee
The Committee members sit at a horseshoe table, parties face them, and the public
sit at the back. Committee members and the public can see screens which display
evidence that has been submitted. Petitioners are expected to sit down when
presenting, as the cameras do not move and cannot capture you if standing.
When addressing Members, petitioners should use the titles ‘sir’, ‘madam’, ‘Mr’ or
‘Ms’. Committee members should not be approached informally or outside the room.
Petitioners should dress smartly, although ties are not expected.
When presenting to the committee, avoid:
 Repetition (including repeating other petitioners’ points, particularly if they
have been made in the same session)
 Waffle / longwinded speech
 Aggressiveness of any kind (including to HS2 Ltd.’s representative)
 General complaining without offering a remedy
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Raising new points/ issues out of the blue, especially new engineering
solutions. These should be put to HS2 Ltd well in advance. If HS2 Ltd raises
new points/ issues that have not previously been mentioned, this should be
brought to the attention of the Committee.
Reading out speeches with no good reason
Technical and complex information
Arriving late. The Select Committee are unlikely to hear late petitioners
The Committee is likely to be impressed with:
 Concise delivery of key points
 Joint presentations to avoid repetition
 Interesting and informative exhibitions and evidence
 Individuals making their own case, especially those badly affected with an
emotional argument
Petitioners with a long list of petitioning points are unlikely to have the chance to
cover all issues, and therefore it is recommended to select key points to pursue. This
emphasises the importance of working together to ensure all points are covered by
at least one petitioner.
Assumptions to be made about the Select Committee
Although the Select Committee do seem genuinely interested in hearing petitioners,
the following should be assumed:
 The committee are unlikely to have a strong interest or knowledge in
petitioning topics, particularly technical issues – this emphasises the
importance of making an interesting presentation
 The committee will not read any documents relating to your petition given to
them in advance (except a summary of your case of up to two sides, which
the chairman has encouraged)
 The committee will not necessarily read/be interested in any lengthy/technical
documents
 The committee will not spend time ‘out of hours’ working on documents
 The committee may be familiar with HS2 Ltd.’s primary witnesses and
counsel. This can be off putting to petitioners
 The committee will not be interested in technical detail. They will be more
interested in practical aspects/solutions to issues. This was clear during the
noise technical session, where they were far more interested in noise
mitigation solutions rather than the technical aspect of noise itself.
 Committee members may appear and disappear during a session
Preparing for the Select Committee
It is never too early to begin preparing for the Select Committee process, and here
are some ways in which petitioners can begin their preparation:
 Attend at least one Select Committee hearing in person, or if this is not
possible watch the process online. Try and watch petitioners who are
presenting similar topics to you (i.e. local highway issues, concerns over noise
on specific properties, loss of local PRoW etc). This may give you an idea of
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the types of evidence submitted, questions asked by the Committee and
comments made by the promoter.
Make a list of your key petitioning points. The chairman has emphasised
repeatedly that brevity will only assist petitioners, so choose your battles. If
you have many petitioning points, don’t feel you have to cover them all. Select
the most important ones to pursue (possibly those not covered by others).
Think about who else may have petitioned on the same points as you, for
example local people, local groups/ organisations, national organisations/
charities and Local Authorities. For routewide points these may be adequately
covered by national organisation and Local Authorities, and therefore these
may not be your priority. Read the petitions of those identified as having
similar petitioning points to yourself, and identify areas of agreement and
conflict.
Work with petitioners who have the same points as you to ensure you will not
repeat points. It may be worth joining together on these points, appearing as a
witness, or submitting a letter of support for other petitioners. If you identify
areas of conflict, discuss how this can be overcome before appearing at the
Select Committee.
Think about the type of documents that you may want to present as evidence
and which will be put on screen for the committee. These may include maps,
diagrams and photos. If you do not have these already, consider how and
when you will get them. The documentary evidence is crucially important and
can contain pictures, diagrams and bullet points. An electronic version must
be sent to HS2 at least two working days before your appearance, and HS2
must also send you theirs at the same time. Hard copies can be handed to the
committee on the day.
A Petition Response Document (PRD) will be sent to you by HS2 at least 4
weeks in advance of your appearance. The covering email will give details of
the email address to send your documents to. It is worth reading through this
and the relevant information papers (here). Although PRDs are likely to be
fairly standard, they should give you an idea of what HS2 Ltd’s arguments will
be.
As mentioned, ensure any documents to be displayed to the Select
Committee are submitted at least two working days in advance of
appearances, along with the names of any witnesses and who will present the
case. Your personal notes of what you intend to say to the committee do not
need to be submitted.
Discussions with HS2 Ltd
HS2 Ltd may approach petitioners prior to the Select Committee process, although
there has been limited evidence of this as of yet in Buckinghamshire. If you are not
contacted, it is worth writing to HS2 Ltd to offer to discuss points. This should be
done via email, which should be kept as evidence for the Select Committee if
needed. If you receive no response after 2-3 reminders, it is worth mentioning to
HS2 Ltd that you will draw this to the attention of the Select Committee. The Select
Committee are unlikely to be impressed with HS2 Ltd if they have been unwilling to
cooperate and engage in discussions.
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It is possible that HS2 Ltd will offer undertakings, assurances or legal agreements
prior to the Select Committee process.
Joint petitions
The Select Committee do not want to hear repetition from petitioners, and will look
unfavourably on petitioners who repeat points previously made. Therefore, if your
point is the same as petitioners who will appear before you (particularly on the same
day) there are a number of options:
 Put your own perspective on the point and present this as additional evidence.
 Provide a letter of support to the person who presents this point first. This
should state that you support the point raised by them as well as their remedy.
 Present your petitions jointly. The Select Committee will look favourably upon
petitioners who organise themselves to avoid repetition and avoid delaying
the process.
 Appear as a witness for another petitioner. This could involve you putting your
perspective on the petitioning points made.
Where a series of petitions addresses related issues, the Committee will invite the
second and subsequent petitioners to say whether they wish to make points not
already addressed by the first petitioner. These petitioners will be asked to address
only those further points, unless there are exceptional reasons. Petitioners choosing
not to speak will be deemed for formal purposes to have appeared, provided they or
their agent are present in the room and identify themselves.
Should an appearance be made at all?
For a petition to be considered at all by the Committee, a petitioner or appointed
representative must appear before the Committee. Therefore it is strongly
recommended that petitioners do appear if they want their views to be considered at
all by the committee.
How will the committee make their decision?
It is very likely that decisions will be made on a cost vs benefit basis. The Committee
are unlikely to make decisions immediately after hearing your case, and instead they
are likely to be made at convenient points such as just before or after recess. It is
possible that some ‘big ticket’ decisions will be made earlier, particularly those that
would require additional provisions and those that would remove numerous petitions
The Committee will also consider how practical options are. It is likely that expensive
engineering alterations will be rejected if the Select Committee are unconvinced that
these are justified. However, it is worth chipping away to see how much can be
achieved i.e. extended tunnels, deeper cuttings, green tunnels, and further
mitigation.
What can be achieved by the committee?
The Committee can require the following (this list is not exhaustive):
 Undertakings/assurances to be given by HS2.
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Changes to the route alignment, as long as they are within the ‘broad
alignment’ of the railway.
Changes to the bill and/or deposited plans (add/ remove land).
Further environmental assessment on particular aspects. However, it is clear
that HS2 Ltd will strongly resist this.
Other documents to be amended (e.g. CoCP, environmental minimum
requirements).
Exhibits, evidence and witnesses
Petitioners should prepare the following three things for their appearance:
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Exhibits (documents on screen during your case)
o Your presentation should be informative and tell a story
o You may want to use maps, photos and tables as your exhibits. On
these you may want to show HS2’s proposals and what you are
proposing; and areas affected by the route, perhaps also with the route
drawn on.
o You should stay clear of any large chunks of text. Bear in mind – you
need to interest the committee in what you are there to tell them.
o Keep references/foot notes to a minimum, no matter how much
impressive research you have done. One idea might be to have a
bibliography slide at the back and tell the committee it is there should
they like to see it. If you have based your case on detailed technical
documents, then take them with you to the committee so that you can
refer to them as necessary, particularly during cross-examination by
HS2/questioning by the committee
o The committee members will have the documents on screens in front
of them and you can hand out hard copies
o Exhibits will be given numbers by HS2 when they load them up onto
the committee’s computer system. If you are producing hard copies of
your evidence as well, it would be worth checking with HS2 what
numbering system they will be using for. At least one slide should
clearly set out what you want the Select Committee to do (i.e. the
remedy). This could be in the form of bullet points or a table.
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Presenter’s personal notes
o It is a good idea to have notes so you keep to what you want to say,
without having lots of text on the exhibits. When presenting, a
fundamental point to remember is: one thing at a time. Do not overload
the committee. Be explicit in saying things like “I have [number] points I
will be making to you. My first point is this… Committee, I am now
going to come on to my second point…’’
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2 page summary for the select committee
o Prior to your appearance you can prepare a summary of your points,
and it will be given to the committee in advance. This can be up to 2
pages long and should highlight your key points. Again, this should be
interesting and engaging for the select committee. The committee may
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have this in front of them while you are presenting, so you may wish to
refer to it.
The address to send them these documents to is petitionerexhibits@hs2.org.uk.
(Please also contact this office well in advance of that if you intend to use models.)
The Select Committee are likely to appreciate evidence more if it is concise and
punchy, and are likely to be put off by excessive technical detail. Local Authorities
and major landowners and representative organisations will be expected to provide
more detailed and technical evidence. If the promoter has agreed that an alternative
design is achievable in engineering terms there is no need to provide technical
evidence to demonstrate this. If HS2 Ltd has not given an opinion on your alternative
solution, it is worth asking them beforehand if your proposal is technically feasible.
It is worth taking along a few hard copies of your evidence, as Select Committee
members may find it helpful to flick backwards and forwards through them and they
can be picked up by members who may not have been there at the start of your
presentation.
You may call witnesses, for example an engineering expert to give evidence to
support your case. All exhibits which you want to be on screen and/ in hard copy for
the committee, together with the names of witnesses and the name of the person
who will present your case must be submitted by 5pm two working days before you
are due to appear. HS2 Ltd is required to also provide its witness names and
evidence in accordance with the same deadlines and these will be sent to you.
HS2 is required to provide its witness names and evidence in accordance with the
same deadlines and these will be sent to you. Please note that if you have
distributed material during a visit you will still need to re-send it to HS2 as such
material is otherwise not formally counted as evidence. If you would like to use hard
copies provided during a visit this may be possible but you should call the following
number first: 020 7219 3250
You will also need to confirm who will present your case by the same deadline,
including if it is a Roll B agent. However, you can change your Roll B agent at short
notice if you need to (for instance, because of illness).
5 key points to remember for presenting to the Select Committee:
1. OBJECT – be clear what your object is when presenting. What are you asking the
committee to do?
2. ONE POINT AT A TIME – explicitly separate your points.
3. SIMPLE DIAGRAMS AND PHOTOS ON SLIDES – not lots of text
4. BE SHORT – more powerful
5. BE CONFIDENT AND BE YOURSELF – do not be afraid of the committee
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Time restrictions
You will be asked in advance how much time you will require to present your case,
and this information will be passed to the committee. Any concerns regarding the
time you have specified will be raised in advance, and you may be asked to justify
any lengthy estimates. The Select Committee have made it clear that long cases will
not be tolerated, nor will the repetition of points already raised, or reading out
speeches. You should assume that the Select Committee will not read any
information submitted in advance (except a two page summary of your case) and
therefore when presenting you should cover all the points that you want the Select
Committee to consider. As the Select Committee progresses, we will gain more
information on how long petitioners are generally given to present their case.
Locus standi challenges
Despite a petitioner’s locus standi not being challenged initially, all petitioners should
be prepared for HS2 Ltd to suggest that they should not be raising certain points.
This may be because your points have been covered by a previous petitioner, or
they believe that you are not specifically or directly affected by certain points. If HS2
Ltd do intend to challenge your locus, we would hope that this would be mentioned in
your PRD (Petition Response Document) or the covering letter that accompanies it.
There are a number of ways in which petitioners can prepare for potential locus
standi challenges. Firstly, it is important to ensure you put a personal angle on your
petitioning points. Therefore if your point is covered by a previous petitioner, you can
add additional points from your perspective. Secondly, petitioners should consider
how all the points they raise affect them directly.
Petitioners should work together to decide who is most directly affected by certain
points, and therefore who should lead on these points. Other petitioners can either
submit a letter of support or present these points as a joint case.
However, it is worth remembering that HS2 Ltd have not yet attempted to challenge
petitioners locus standi during hearings, and therefore we do not know how the
Select Committee will respond to this. It may be that the Select Committee say that
this is not appropriate, and HS2 Ltd chooses to no longer take this approach.
Order of proceedings
If a petitioner does not intend to provide a witness:
 Counsel for promoter may make brief introductory remarks (unless petitioner
objects)
 Petitioner (or representative) makes statement to committee, referring to
documents if any
 Committee may ask questions throughout
 Counsel for promoters responds and may be questioned by committee
 Petitioner (or representative) responds
If the petitioner does intend to provide a witness:
 Witnesses sworn in/ affirmed by clerk
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Counsel for promoter makes brief introductory remarks (unless petitioner
objects)
Petitioner (or representative) makes brief opening remarks and calls witness
(refers to documents, if any)
Committee may ask questions throughout. Counsel may cross-examine each
witness.
Counsel for promoter may call evidence (repeat above procedure)
Counsel for promoter sums up and may be questioned by committee
Petitioner (or representative) responds and may be questioned by committee
Useful links
Transcripts:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commonsselect/high-speed-rail-london-west-midlands-bill-select-committee-commons/
Watch proceedings:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Home.aspx
HS2 information papers:
http://www.hs2.org.uk/news-resources/information-papers
Evidence presented by petitioners:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cmhs2/cmhs2.htm
Select Committee Guidance paper:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commonscommittees/hs2/HS2_procedure_in_committee_note_rev_vers5.pdf
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