Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards — Publication of Information About Matters Under Investigation — 19 Jul 2018 at 14:28

The majority of MPs voted to stop the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards routinely publishing information about individual investigations before those investigations are concluded.

One of the roles of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is to investigate the conduct of members of Parliament.

MPs were considering a motion which, among other provisions, stated:

• That this House....
• approves the Second Report from the Committee on Standards, Independent Complaints and Grievance Policy: Implementation, HC1396, and the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme Delivery Report and its proposals for ensuring clear standards for all who work in or visit Parliament, and, in particular:
• ...
• (4) recognises the role of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to consider cases arising from the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme;
• notes the arrangements about publishing the details of investigations of such cases to ensure complaints are handled confidentially as set out in the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme Delivery Report; and
• accordingly agrees that, for consistency and fairness, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards should no longer routinely publish information about individual investigations before those investigations are concluded and accordingly agrees to amend sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (12) of Standing Order No. 150 by inserting “statistical” before “information” and leaving out “and matters under investigation”;

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• amendment (a), in paragraph (4), leave out from “Report;” to the end.

Debate in Parliament |