A LIMITED number of MPs are appointed to select committees, currently by party whips.

These committees have become important checks on an increasingly powerful executive, and an opinion is developing that a selection committee should be set up to appoint people outside the influence of Government and party whips.

In November 1997, I was appointed as a founder member of the environmental audit select committee, but, in March this year, I was transferred to the science and technology select committee.

Just before the summer recess our committee published a major report, with 48 recommendations -- Cancer Research - A Fresh Look.

The BBC filmed our work and a Scrutiny programme was broadcast on BBC2 TV on Saturday, July 29.

Members of the committee have studied cancer treatment in Canada, USA, Finland and other European countries, and taken evidence in the House of Commons from expert witnesses and people who have undergone treatment.

The Government has made cancer treatment one of its top three priorities along with mental health and cardiovascular disease.

Our select committee has reported that the UK is falling behind other countries in its improvement of cancer survival rates.

Charities contribute about twice as much to cancer research as the Government does, and we have recommended more Government input into research, at least on a match funding basis.

At St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, we saw a state-of-the-art CT body scanner that can scan the whole body of a patient in about 15 minutes, then produce three-dimensional pictures of major organs, such as the colon and lungs.

For 85 per cent of the patients at St Mary's with lung cancer, it is too late to halt the progress of the disease.

The doctors made a strong plea for these body scanners to become available as screening, as well as diagnostic instruments, so that small growths in the lung and colon can be detected and removed before they have become malignant.

The only trouble is that they cost around £500,000. The Government has just announced 250 new body scanners for hospitals -- let's hope a few are as advanced as these machines!

I was impressed by a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital at Sutton, Surrey, where we learned about advances in radiotherapy, in particular three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, which enables a cancerous organ to be given an accurate high dose of radiation without damaging healthy tissues.

Women have benefited from much improved breast cancer survival rates.

Let's hope that survival rates for prostate, lung and colorectal cancer can be significantly improved too, and soon.

Our investigation has shown that early detection, before symptoms appear, is the key to improved cancer survival rates.