Chris Bryant, chair of the Committee of Privileges, said a report that will be released this year will detail plans to compel witnesses to appear before MPs and hand over documents.

Mr Cummings was ruled to be in contempt of Parliament last year when he failed to appear before MPs who were investigating fake news.

Mr Bryant told The Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast: “This has been an ongoing battle over the years, because some including Dominic Cummings and many others have either refused to turn up or been deeply offensive or have lied when they’ve appeared before the committee.

“We are determined to crack this nut and so we’re doing an inquiry on that at the moment as well about the powers of parliament to make sure that people attend.”

The committee has spoken to officials from the US, Australia and Canada on how their legally enforced subpoenas work and plans to report on the issue before the end of the year.

“I’m certain we will end up with the view that there has to be some form of being able to force witnesses to attend and/or provide papers. The question is just how, and that’s what we’re working on at the moment,” he said.

A government source said: “We await the committee’s report and will consider carefully its recommendations.”