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Select committee: International Agreements Committee

Review of treaty scrutiny

Closed Opened 15 May 2024 Closed 16 Mar 2026

International Agreements Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
The International Agreements Committee (IAC) is the principal body in Parliament tasked with scrutinising treaties under the framework established by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRAG). Since its establishment in 2020, the IAC has issued two reports on working practices and has made recommendations to Government on how to make treaty scrutiny more effective within the CRAG framework. This short inquiry will review treaty scrutiny practice and consider how treaty scrutiny could be further improved. The report Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster: Addressing the Accountability Gap was published 11 September 2025, the Government Response was published 3 December 2025 and the report was debated 16 March 2026

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 15 May 2024.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 10th Report - Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster: Addressing the Accountability Gap on 11 September 2025.

The government's response

Published 3 December 2025. The deadline was 11 November 2025.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government does not accept the case for fundamental reform of treaty scrutiny under the CRaG Act, but says it is "keen to work with the Committee" to improve working practices.

  • On extensions, the Government "continues to believe the statutory scrutiny period is sufficient". It will consider requests "on a case-by-case basis" and sets out factors it takes into account, but says it "needs to retain the ability to decide not to extend the period in any case".
  • It does not agree with the Hansard Society's assessment of the CRaG Act, and states there is no need for express parliamentary approval of a particular group of treaties.
  • It agrees there is scope to improve Explanatory Memoranda and says it will "publish an updated template and guidance".
  • It "commits to exploring options" so the Committee is appropriately sighted on treaty actions, and will review its guidance on implementing existing commitments. On non-binding instruments it "intends to update its guidance" but says general criteria are difficult to provide.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 6 oral evidence sessionsLatest 10 June 2025
  • 15 witnesses
All evidence

Recent activity

Meetings and visits

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

6 sessions

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Date Session and witnesses Source
10 Jun 2025
Oral evidence session
Catherine West MP · Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Naomi Davey · Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) 		View ↗
3 Jun 2025
Oral evidence session
Glenn Worthington · House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia, Julia Morris · Parliament of Australia, Klara Fay · Parliament of Australia 		View ↗
13 May 2025
Oral evidence session
Andrew Keller · US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Curtis Bradley · University of Chicago 		View ↗
6 May 2025
Oral evidence session
Professor Emily Jones · Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Professor Holger Hestermeyer · Monckton Chambers, Professor Lorand Bartels MBE · University of Cambridge 		View ↗
23 Apr 2025
Oral evidence session
Arabella Lang · Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, Professor Katja Ziegler · University of Leicester, Professor Mario Mendez · Queen Mary University London 		View ↗
1 Apr 2025
Oral evidence session
Alexander Horne · Hackett & Dabbs LLP, Jill Barrett · Queen Mary University of London 		View ↗

Who gave evidence

15 witnesses

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WitnessOrganisationSessions
Alexander Horne · Barrister Hackett & Dabbs LLP 1
Andrew Keller · former General Counsel US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1
Arabella Lang · Head of Public Law, Law Society of England and Wales and Visiting Fellow Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex 1
Catherine West MP · Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office 1
Curtis Bradley · Allen M. Singer Distinguished Service Professor of Law University of Chicago 1
Glenn Worthington · Clerk Assistant (Committees) House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia 1
Jill Barrett · Visiting Reader in the School of Law Queen Mary University of London 1
Julia Morris · former Secretary to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Parliament of Australia 1
Klara Fay · Secretary to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Parliament of Australia 1
Naomi Davey · Legal Director Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) 1
Professor Emily Jones · Associate Professor of Public Policy Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford 1
Professor Holger Hestermeyer · Professor of International and EU Law, Vienna Diplomatic Academy, door tenant Monckton Chambers 1
Professor Katja Ziegler · Sir Robert Jennings Professor of International Law University of Leicester 1
Professor Lorand Bartels MBE · Chair of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, Professor of International Law University of Cambridge 1
Professor Mario Mendez · Professor of Law Queen Mary University London 1

Correspondence

2 letters

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PublishedDirectionLetter
27 Mar 2025 To committee Letter from The Minister for the Indo-Pacific to the Chair of the International Agreements Committee (25 March 2025)
3 Mar 2025 To committee Letter from the Chair, to the Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (27 February 2025)

Meetings & visits

3 items

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DateTypeDetailSource
2 Sep 2025 Formal meeting (private meeting) Not recorded · Room 1, Palace of Westminster
25 Feb 2025 Formal meeting (private meeting) Not recorded · Virtual meeting
4 Feb 2025 Informal meeting Not recorded · Room 2A, Palace of Westminster