Incremental processes of institutional change from 1960 to 2000 secured MPs’ current capacity to scrutinise science-based legislation

The unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19 have intensified the demands placed upon MPs to scrutinise the use of science in policymaking, making visible the parliamentary mechanisms that enable them to do so. Emmeline Ledgerwood examines the steps that led two such mechanisms to become embedded in the institution of Parliament: the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. She highlights how individual members of the all-party Parliamentary and Scientific Committee have influenced institutional change.