How to submit evidence to a select committee inquiry

Knowing how to submit evidence to a select committee is the cheapest route into Parliament that most organisations never take. There is no fee, no need for a contact, and the rules are public. A committee inquiry is an open invitation to put your argument in front of a cross-party group of MPs whose report the government must answer. This guide covers how to find the right inquiry, what the committee actually wants, how to write it, and what happens after you press send.

The timing is good. The Budget is a week away, on 28 October, and the Treasury Committee's Budget 2026 inquiry takes written evidence until 5pm on 29 January 2027. Business is already in the room: on 20 October the committee questioned the economic leads of the CBI and the TUC alongside the Federation of Small Businesses. Across the Commons, 21 calls for written evidence are open as we publish, and 11 of them close within the next month. Two are squarely about business: the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee's inquiry into entrepreneurship and business closes on 12 November, and the Work and Pensions Committee's inquiry into auto-enrolment pension contributions for low earners and their employers closes on 26 October.

What a select committee inquiry is

Select committees are small, cross-party groups of MPs who scrutinise a department or a subject. Most inquiries start with a call for evidence: a short list of questions the committee wants answered, a deadline, and an online form. Anyone can respond. The committee then invites some witnesses to oral evidence sessions, publishes a report with recommendations, and the government is expected to reply to every report within 60 days, though it often takes longer.

Two things make this different from a government consultation. The committee is not the decision maker, so you are arguing for a recommendation rather than a policy. And committees are political: a report that embarrasses a minister gets coverage, which is often what moves the department.

Who actually gives evidence, and who gets heard

Committees are not short of submissions. The LSE's study of 21 inquiry reports found an average of 107 witnesses per inquiry, 85 of them in writing. In the authors' survey of 911 witnesses, charities were the largest organisational group, at 16%, ahead of private firms at 11%. Academics and other experts made up 28%.

The sobering figure is what happened next. Across those 21 reports, 56% of witnesses were not cited at all. Civil servants were cited about 2.8 times on average, private companies 2.4, and charities, think tanks and interest groups between 1.4 and 1.8. Being in the pile is easy. Being used is the job.

How to find the right inquiry in time

Deadlines are the first filter. Most calls for evidence run for four to eight weeks, and committees rarely extend them. Three ways to stay ahead:

• Parliament's own list. The committees website lists every open call for evidence, with its closing date. Check it weekly.
• Follow the committee, not the inquiry. If your issue sits with the Education, Health and Social Care or Work and Pensions committee, read its forward look. Most inquiries are trailed before the call for evidence opens.
• Read the terms of reference before you decide. A call for evidence usually has five to ten questions. If you cannot answer at least two with evidence you already hold, the inquiry is probably not yours.

Frontbench users get this done for them: the overnight brief flags new inquiries and hearings that match your priorities, and the calendar shows each session with its witnesses once they are published.

How to write a select committee submission

The House of Commons publishes a guide for witnesses. Its rules are short and committees do apply them.

Format. A single Word document (doc, docx, rtf, txt or odt), not a PDF, under 25MB, with few logos or pictures and no macros. Annexes go in the same file. Submit through the online form on the inquiry page, which asks for your contact details.

Length. No more than 3,000 words unless the terms of reference say otherwise. Shorter is better. Clerks read hundreds of these.

Structure. The guide asks for:

• a heading saying who the evidence is from, such as "Written evidence submitted by [organisation]";
• an executive summary in bullet points;
• a short introduction to your organisation and why you are submitting;
• numbered paragraphs, so MPs and clerks can cite you by paragraph;
• factual information the committee can draw conclusions from, or put to other witnesses;
• recommendations for action by the government or others.

What not to include. Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, though you can reference it with a link. Do not comment on matters before a court. Committees do not investigate individual complaints.

The part most submissions get wrong

The committee's questions are the structure. Answer them in order, under their own headings, and skip the ones you cannot evidence. A submission that restates your organisation's general position under its own headings makes the clerk do the work of mapping it to the inquiry, and that is the submission that goes uncited.

Lead with the fact the committee does not have. Committees want things they cannot get from the department: what is happening on the ground, numbers from your own services, the gap between the policy as written and as delivered. A case study with a date and a place beats a paragraph of adjectives.

Make the recommendation something a committee can write. "The Government should fund the sector properly" cannot go in a report. "The Department should publish the full cost recovery rate for grants over £100,000 in its next annual report" can.

What happens after you submit

Committees publish most written evidence on their website, where search engines index it. If you do not want yours published, say so and give a reason. The committee decides.

Once submitted, your evidence is the committee's. The guide is clear that no public use should be made of a submission prepared for the committee until the clerk gives permission. In practice that means waiting for the committee to publish it before you put it on your own site or in a newsletter. Published evidence carries parliamentary privilege; if you republish it separately with permission, you are legally responsible for the content.

Some written witnesses are invited to give oral evidence. The committee chooses, and it tends to pick people who can speak for a group or bring a number nobody else has. If you are invited, you will usually be told the broad areas of questioning in advance, and transcripts are published within days.

A worked example: the Budget 2026 inquiry

The Treasury Committee's inquiry is a useful test of the rules. It opened on 7 October, two days before the Commons returned from recess. Its first oral evidence session, on 14 October, heard from Lord O'Neill, Dr Peder Beck-Friis of PIMCO and Professor Anna Valero of the LSE. The second, on 20 October, took the view from employers and workers: Louise Hellem, Chief Economist at the CBI, Dr Geoff Tily, Head of Economics at the TUC, and David Hale, Government Affairs Director at the Federation of Small Businesses. Written evidence stays open until 29 January 2027, well after the Budget on 28 October, because the committee reports on the Budget as delivered.

That shape tells you how to play it. Evidence sent before 28 October can speak to what the Budget should contain. Evidence sent after can speak to what it did, with your own numbers on the effect: what a tax change costs your firm, or what a funding decision means for your services. The second is often the more useful to a committee, and far fewer organisations bother.

A checklist before you send

• The submission answers the committee's questions, in its order, under its headings.
• It is under 3,000 words, in Word, with numbered paragraphs and a bullet-point summary.
• Every factual claim has a source or comes from your own data, and says which.
• Each recommendation names who should do what, and by when.
• Nothing in it is already published elsewhere as the main argument.
• Nothing in it comments on a live court case.
• You have decided whether you are content for it to be published.
• The deadline on the inquiry page is in your diary with a week's margin.

Tracking committees without the trawl

Committee business moves fast once the Commons is sitting. This week alone, 19 Commons select committees have 21 oral evidence sessions in the diary. Frontbench follows every Commons committee and matches hearings, reports and government responses to your organisation's priorities, so the inquiry you should answer surfaces in your overnight brief the day it opens. How it works explains the matching. If you are starting from scratch, our guides to responding to a government consultation and writing a policy briefing cover the same ground for the executive side.

FAQ

Can anyone submit evidence to a select committee? Yes. Individuals, charities, companies, academics and public bodies all can. There is no fee and no requirement to be invited.

How long should written evidence to a select committee be? The House of Commons guide recommends no more than 3,000 words unless the inquiry's terms of reference say otherwise.

What format does a select committee submission need to be in? A single Word-type document under 25MB, not a PDF, with numbered paragraphs, submitted through the form on the inquiry page.

Will my evidence be published? Usually. Committees publish most written evidence online. You can ask for it not to be, with a reason, and the committee decides.

Can I publish my own evidence? Not until the clerk gives permission, which in practice means after the committee has published it.

How long does the government take to respond to a select committee report? Governments commit to reply within 60 days of a report's publication, although they often take longer.

How many submissions does an inquiry get? The LSE's study of 21 reports found an average of 107 witnesses per inquiry, of whom 85 gave written evidence.

Facts checked against the sources linked above on 19 October 2026. The inquiry and hearing counts come from Parliament's committees data on 19 October.