Liz Greenhalgh

Oxford Mail:

Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

Last month an exceptional event took place in Oxford.

The UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Select Committee held a special meeting in the University of Oxford’s Divinity School in front of a packed audience of sixth-form students from across Oxfordshire.

This was special because the day marked the first meeting of the UK Parliament in Oxford for more than 300 years.

2015 has been quite a year for political commemorations, especially with the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. The Bodleian Library holds four versions of the Magna Carta dating from 1217 and 1225. Less well known is that in the 1600s the University’s historic buildings hosted sessions of the national parliament.

In 1625 the House of Commons met in the University of Oxford’s Divinity School – now part of the Bodleian Libraries – to avoid the plague prevalent in London at the time.

Twenty years later during the Civil War, Charles I moved his court to Oxford and his Royalist Parliament sat in Oxford in 1644. Avoiding the plague in London once again, the Lords and the Commons met in Oxford in 1665.

Finally, in 1681, Charles II summoned a parliament to Oxford during an attempt to exclude his brother James from succession.

The University’s Department of Politics and International Relations, together with the Bodleian Libraries and Oxfordshire County Council’s Library Service welcomed an opportunity to arrange a day for students from Oxfordshire schools to consider the day-to-day functions of modern day parliaments and get insights into the specialist knowledge that Universities such as Oxford offer parliament and its committees.

We wanted an Oxford-specific way to consider our political rights and freedoms and a parliamentary session in Oxford as part of the day seemed fitting.

Of course, it wasn’t the whole UK Parliament that met in Oxford last week but representatives of a Select Committee.

Nicola Blackwood, MP for Oxford West & Abingdon, currently chairs the Science and Technology Select Committee and, sitting in the Divinity School as parliament did in the 1600s, committee members took evidence on two of its current inquiries: ‘Science in Emergencies: UK lessons from Ebola’ and ‘Big Data Dilemma’.

The University of Oxford is one of Britain’s strongest scientific research universities and we heard first-hand from specialist researchers from the University’s Department of Medicine – one of the largest groupings of biomedical researchers in the university sector – who led important research on the Ebola virus and the development of vaccines.

Their evidence contributed to the committee’s inquiry on the recent outbreak which devastated communities across West Africa and exposed the risk of a global health crisis – how can science help a more effective response?

We also heard from researchers from the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute who set out the dilemmas associated with the emergence of big data.

The select committee’s inquiry on the ‘Big Data Dilemma’ asks how the opportunities that come with the development of enormous sets of data can be balanced against protection of privacy, and undesirable uses of people’s personal information.

As part of the day the Department of Politics and International Relations led a session with sixth-formers to explore the effectiveness of parliament, asking questions such as: how representative is parliament of the UK population?

Is there a purpose behind the traditions in parliament, the rituals and codes of behaviour?

Does parliament necessarily have to meet in the Palace of Westminster? What about devolution?

And what happens to parliament following devolved powers for Scotland and Wales and regional devolution for the North of England?

We also learned about the work that these committees do in scrutinising the work of the Government, by examining legislation, exploring areas of policy and reviewing expenditure.

Should parliament meet outside London more often? The students’ answers were an overwhelming “not if it costs more”.

On the question of how well Parliament does at holding the Government to account, there was a good dose of healthy scepticism.