House of Lords sets up Digital Skills Select Committee

The House of Lords has set up a select committee on digital skills.

The Digital Skills Select Committee will consider information and communications technology, competitiveness and skills in the UK, and make recommendations in a report.

This committee will be chaired by Baroness Morgan of Huyton, and will formally launch an inquiry in the next few weeks.

House of Lords committees are set up to investigate specific policy issues relating to Europe, science, economics and the UK constitution, and report on their findings.

A recent area of technology interest has been the superfast broadband debate, where the House of Lords Communications Committee slammed the government’s broadband strategy, claiming the UK “can and must do better” when rolling out internet infrastructure.

The Digital Skills Committee is due to meet in private on 18 June, and a call for evidence is expected to be published towards the end of the month. It is expected to publish its report by 5 March 2015.

Committee members

• Baroness Morgan of Huyton, Chairman (Labour)
• Lord Aberdare (Crossbench)
• Earl of Courtown (Conservative)
• Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat)
• Lord Giddens (Labour)
• Lord Haskel (Labour)
• Lord Holmes of Richmond (Conservative)
• Lord Janvrin (Crossbench)
• Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope (Liberal Democrat)
• Lord Lucas (Conservative)
• Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (Labour)
• Baroness O’Cathain (Conservative)