WE are coming to the end of Scam Awareness Month 2010 and I have received information about another internet scam circulating locally.

This one is rather less professional than ones I have seen before but could still catch the unwary as it is headed, with consummate effrontery, “Federal Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division”.

It offers a huge cash prize for a lottery that you never entered and demands a fee before the prize can be released to you. Thank goodness the recipient saw through this and sent it to me.

The rule that I highlighted in a debate on scams sometime ago is “If it’s too good to be true it’s not true.” This still applies and if readers receive anything that looks suspicious please report it to the Office of Fair Trading via a link on their website “onlinescamreport” or by telephone to Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

On Monday I attended a meeting of the West Midlands Parliamentary Regional Select Committee in Birmingham and was convinced of the value of these meetings, especially when held in the region, even though the two main opposition parties have so far boycotted Regional Select Committees.

Three members of the committee with two staff met about 50 people from West Midlands businesses, community groups, charities, Advantage West Midlands, the Regional Government Office and other groups interested in promoting the West Midlands.

The meeting started with an overview of regional governance in England given by Professor Graham Pearce of Aston Business School. One of his main points was “Whichever Party(ies) forms the next government will inherit a fragmented and complex system of sub-national government, which few citizens understand”.

He described Labour’s legacy of change and the recent reforms and the Conservative critique. It was most helpful to me and it was followed by many points from the participants for the committee to note if it is still in existence after the next election.

The potential value of the committee to the region was stressed and future inquiries into the functions and successes of regional bodies and government quangos were suggested.

Questions were posed about how the committee should contact community and voluntary bodies and the unheard voices. Some answers were suggested and so we have much food for thought when the new parliament is formed.

If Regional Select Committees are abolished we will need to consider setting up an alternative group to represent West Midlands interests in London.

I returned to London too late to be able to make a full speech in the debate on House of Commons Reforms following the welcome suggestions in the Wright Report.

Two of my independent colleagues spoke and I and another independent were able to make brief interventions. One proposal is that Select Committee members will be elected rather than nominated by party whips. This worried me but there is a clause in the Wright Report to which I drew attention that will provide a mechanism for members of smaller parties to have a chance of selection to these valuable committees.

There is also a much-needed sentence to allow censure of Select Committee members if their attendance is poor.

Dr Richard Taylor MP