Role of education select committee clarification

I was mystified by references to the Education and Skills Committee in your article on the Glad conference.

It says, ‘The Education and Skills Select Committee sees the issue of design from a purely “commercial” standpoint.’ There is simply no basis for this statement. I have a keen personal interest in design and design education, and have been involved with the Parliamentary Design Group and the Design Council for many years, but the Education and Skills Select Committee is not examining design education, and has taken no position on the matter.

Nor are we previewing any recommendations on the subject to the Parliamentary Design Group or any other all-party parliamentary group; we don’t have any such recommendations, and, in any event, select committees do not work in this way. The role of the Education and Skills Select Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policies of the Department for Education and Skills.

Barry Sheerman MP, Chairman, Education and Skills Committee, House of Commons, London SW1