10th Report - Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster: Addressing the Accountability Gap
- HC No.
- —
- Published
- 11 Sep 2025
- Items
- 0
- Response
- Response document linked Read government response ↗
Select Committee · International Agreements Committee
Review of treaty scrutiny
Status: Closed
Opened: 15 May 2024
Closed: 16 Mar 2026
1 report
Inquiry scope
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 2026Reports
Oral evidence sessions
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Date | Session and witnesses | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Jun 2025 | Catherine West MP · Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Naomi Davey · Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) | View ↗ |
| 3 Jun 2025 | Glenn Worthington · House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia, Julia Morris · Parliament of Australia, Klara Fay · Parliament of Australia | View ↗ |
| 13 May 2025 | Andrew Keller · US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Curtis Bradley · University of Chicago | View ↗ |
| 6 May 2025 | 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 | 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 | Alexander Horne · Hackett & Dabbs LLP, Jill Barrett · Queen Mary University of London | View ↗ |
Who gave evidence
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Witness | Organisation | Sessions |
|---|---|---|
| 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
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Published | Direction | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| 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
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Date | Type | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Sep 2025 | Formal meeting (private meeting) | — · Room 1, Palace of Westminster | |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Formal meeting (private meeting) | — · Virtual meeting | |
| 4 Feb 2025 | Informal meeting | — · Room 2A, Palace of Westminster |