Written evidence required by Business and Enterprise Committee's inquiry into the Motorsport Industry

Following the MIA's highly successful 'Motorsport Industry in Parliament' day, the House of Commons' Business & Enterprise Committee has recently announced an inquiry looking into the role that the Motorsport sector plays in the wider economy.

Deadline 21st September - click here

Click here to read the Select Committee Announcement.

Click here to read the MIA's press release.

The Committee Chairman has asked that motorsport businesses submit written evidence to the Committee. The Committee will also be holding oral evidence sessions on this topic when the House returns from the recess after October 12th. Witnesses for oral evidence sessions are normally chosen from those organisations which submitted written evidence.

Below is a guide for submitting written evidence to a Select Committee.

The MIA would be grateful if it could be kept informed of your written evidence. If you have any problems, please email info@the-mia.com or call +44 (0)2476 692600.

Submitting written evidence to a select committee

What information to include:
As a general guideline, written evidence should consist of a self-contained memorandum accompanied by a covering letter. Evidence should be presented as concisely as possible.

The covering letter should contain-

• The name and contact details of the persons or organisation submitting the evidence.
• Any request to give oral evidence.
• Any request that the committee treat the whole, or part, of the written evidence as confidential, with reasons for the request. It will then be up to the committee to decide
  whether to agree to such a request.

The memorandum should contain-

• An executive summary of the main points made in the submission.
• A brief introduction to the submitter, perhaps explaining their area of expertise.
• Any factual information the submitter has to offer (from which the committee might be able to draw conclusions, or which could be put to other witnesses for their reactions).
• Any recommendations for action by the Government or others which the submitter would like the committee to consider for inclusion in its report to the House.

How to format your evidence:

Some points to note-

• Paragraphs should be numbered, to assist the committee in referring to the submission during oral evidence.
• If including supplementary material with your memorandum (e.g. leaflets or articles from periodicals), ensure your memorandum is nevertheless selfcontained, as committees are unlikely to publish such supplementary material.
• The committee will receive a photocopy of your memorandum. Consequently, even if your submission uses colour, it should still make sense when reproduced in black and white.
• If you are submitting your evidence electronically, your memorandum should be in Microsoft Word or rich text format.
• If you are submitting your evidence in hard copy, avoid using any complicated binding.

How to submit your evidence:
Written evidence should be sent to the Committee before 21st September 2009. Submissions should be sent - as an MS Word document of no more than eight pages - by email to becom@parliament.uk with a single hard copy sent to the Clerk of the Committee at:

Business & Enterprise Committee Office
House of Commons
London
SW1P 3JA

What happens to your evidence, once submitted:
Submitting evidence to Parliament is generally a public process. Your written evidence will become public either when the committee publishes it or at such time as you give oral evidence to a committee - whichever takes place first. If you wish to distribute or publish your evidence earlier, you will need the committee’s permission, for which purpose you should contact the Clerk of the committee. If you are given permission by the committee to publish your evidence separately, you should nonetheless be aware that you do so at your own risk.

Most committees print the written evidence received at the same time as any report from the committee to the House is published, although some committees publish written evidence prior to hearing oral evidence, either on the internet or in hard copy.

For a complete guide to writing and submitting evidence to a select committee, click the link below:

Guide for Witnesses: Giving written or oral evidence to a House of Commons select committee