Plenty of action
Only three days of select committee business next week, because the parliamentary year is timetabled to .
But those three days promise plenty of edifying committee action...
Monday sees the continuation of the riveting Privilege Committee inquiry into the police raid on the parliamentary office of the Conservative immigration spokesman Damien Green, a year ago.
What's made these hearings so fascinating is the prolonged and searching cross-examinations administered by the battery of high powered barristers on the committee - Michael Howard, Ming Campbell and Malcolm Rifkind - which have been much more exacting that most select committee interrogation.
This week's session saw Lord Martin, the former Speaker, .
This coming Monday they'll hear from Commons insiders including some of the people Lord Martin blamed: Dr Malcolm Jack, clerk of the House, Jacqy Sharpe, clerk of committees, Michael Carpenter, Speaker's counsel, and Veronica Daly, assistant Speaker's counsel; followed by Sir William McKay, a former clerk of the House.
Sensitive topic
Elsewhere, the continuing its inquiry into the Sure Start programme, which aims to boost the educational attainment of children in deprived areas.
It's a sensitive political topic, and, in this session, they'll be interviewing one of the founding brains behind Sure Start, Naomi Eisenstadt, former head of the Sure Start Unit, by videoconference from New York.
The will be turning its spotlight on the government's efforts to encourage more people, particularly children to visit museums - the suggestion being that the figures don't justify the amount that's been spent.
Tuesday sees the return to the Committee corridor of Yates of the Yard: Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates.
He's quite an old hand at appearing before select committees, after a number of interrogations over assorted scandals which came to the attention of the constabulary.
But on this occasion he'll be giving evidence about the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Office's response to terrorist attacks. And the committee will also take evidence on the cocaine trade, from the Columbian Ambassador, His Excellency, Mauricio Rodriguez-Munera.
The touchy question of bringing in non-parliamentarians to serve as ministers, usually by catapulting them into the House of Lords, is being pondered by the . And they'll hear from a very eminent witness, the former Prime Minister Sir John Major.
But the biggest fish of all is the Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, who'll make his debut before the . Formally, he'll be giving evidence on the Green Paper and readiness and recuperation of the armed forces.
In practice, that means he'll face all kinds of difficult questions about Afghanistan.
And look out for the Joint Human Rights Committee's continuing inquiry into the ructions at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Having faced some brutal criticisms from ex-colleagues who've now resigned from the Board, its chair Trevor Phillips will give his account of the problems in the new super-equality quango.
Omagh inquiry
On Wednesday, the Northern Ireland Committee will hear from the former head of the Serious Crimes Unit in the PSNI, Norman Baxter and the detective heading the Omagh Bombing inquiry David McWilliams. This is part of their inquiry into Omagh - a decade after the bomb.
The will be hearing from the train operating companies in their inquiry into priorities for investment in the railways.
And the Public Accounts Committee will be asking whether the Β£1.5bn Train to Gain programme has simply resulted in many employers getting public money for training programmes that would have happened without it.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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