At least three times per year, chairs of select committees question the Prime Minister in a sit-down session lasting 90 minutes. It’s one of the more unusual aspects of the work of the Liaison Committee which helps select committees deliver their roles effectively and keep tabs on government policy.

As Sir Keir Starmer MP prepares to face the Committee on 8 April 2025, the Chair of the Liaison Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP, speaks to Dr Hannah White, the Director of the Institute for Government, an independent thinktank which works to make government more effective. They consider the role of the Liaison Committee – who’s involved, what it does and why its backbench MPs have more access to the PM than any other part of Parliament.

What question would you put to the Prime Minister? When the UK’s Youth Parliament took their seats in the House of Commons chamber recently, Committee Corridor caught up with four members from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We wanted their take on the issues which matter most to them – and will put one of their questions directly to Sir Keir Starmer on 8 April.

In the last Parliament, the Liaison Committee was chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex. Its final task was to publish a report on strategic thinking in Government which included powerful evidence about the need to include young people’s voices and interests in decision-making.

Among the topics debated by the Youth Parliament was free public transport for young people. Dame Meg Hillier speaks to the Chair of the Transport Committee, Ruth Cadbury (Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth) about the evidence it’s been hearing on the impact of poor bus services on young people as part of their buses connecting communities' inquiry.

Want to know more about the buses connecting communities' inquiry, take a look at our website https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8619/buses-connecting-communities/

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