House of Commons

The Register of Members' Financial Interests
As at 8th June 2015

REGISTER OF MEMBERS' FINANCIAL INTERESTS

Introduction to the Registers for the 2015 Parliament

The Register of Members' Financial Interests was established following a Resolution of the House of 22 May 1974. As Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards I am responsible, under House of Commons Standing Order No. 150, for maintaining it.

Members who were elected on 7 May 2015 were required to register their interests within one month of their election. The first Register of the Parliament therefore includes all interests registered up to and including 8 June 2015. After that Members must register any change to their registrable interests within 28 days.

The main purpose of the Register is to provide information about any financial interest which a Member has, or any benefit which he or she receives, which others might reasonably consider to influence his or her actions or words as a Member of Parliament. [1]

The House has identified nine specific categories of interests which Members have to register. Each has a separate financial threshold. Members have an obligation to keep in mind the overall definition of the Register’s purpose, as explained in the previous paragraph, and to record in the Miscellaneous category any interests which meet that purpose but which do not fall within any of the other categories.

The Register is updated fortnightly online when the House is sitting, and less frequently at other times. Interests remain on the Register for twelve months after they have expired.

The interests which are to be registered are set out in detail in the Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members, as approved by the House on 17 March 2015. [2] Interests which arose on or after 7 May 2015, the date of the General Election, are registered in accordance with this Guide; those arising before 7 May 2015 are registered in accordance with the 2012 Guide. [3] As a transitional measure, the Register of 8 June 2015 therefore includes some interests which arose before 7 May 2015, which Members were at the time required to register under the 2012 Guide to the Rules, but which in the 2015 Parliament do not otherwise require registration.

Interests are listed in the Register under the following headings:

Category

number and name

(2015 Parliament)

Financial threshold for registration

Previous category number

(2010 Parliament)

Previous financial threshold for registration

1. Employment and earnings

Individual payments over £100

Over £300 for the total of multiple payments of whatever size from the same source in a calendar year

1-3*

Individual payments over £66

Over £660 for the total of multiple payments of whatever size from the same source in a calendar year

2. Donations and other support (including loans)

Over £1,500, either as individual payment, or for the total of multiple donations of more than £500 from the same source in the course of a calendar year

4,10

As now.

3. Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources

Over £300 for the total of benefits of whatever size from the same source in a calendar year

5

As now but over £660

4. Visits outside the UK

Over £300 if not wholly borne by Member or public funds.

Threshold also applies to the total of benefits of whatever size from the same source in a calendar year

6

As now but over £660

5. Gifts and benefits from sources outside the UK

Over £300 for the total of benefits of whatever size from the same source in a calendar year

7

As now but over £660

6. Land and property in the UK and elsewhere

(i) Total value of property held: over £100,000

(ii) Income derived from property: over £10,000 in a calendar year

8

(a) Total value of property held: over £66,000

(b) Income derived from property: over £6,600 in a calendar year

7. Shareholdings

(i) Greater than 15% of issued share capital (on preceding 5 April), or

(ii) If 15% or less of issued shared capital (on preceding 5 April), greater in value than £70,000

9

(a) Greater than 15% of issued share capital (on preceding 5 April), or

(b) If 15% or less of issued share capital (on preceding 5 April), greater in value than £66,000

8. Miscellaneous

No threshold but Members must believe that someone else might reasonably consider the interest to influence his or her actions or words as a Member

11

No threshold but Members must believe that someone else might reasonably consider the interest to influence his or her actions or words as a Member

Category

number and name

(2015 Parliament)

Financial threshold for registration

Previous category number

(2010 Parliament)

Previous financial threshold for registration

9. Family members employed and remunerated through parlia-mentary expenses

Over £700 in a calendar year [1]

12

Over £660 in a calendar year [1]

10. Family members engaged in lobbying

No threshold

N/A

N/A

The Register is available online and can be accessed via the following link: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem.htm . Past copies can also be inspected, upon prior arrangement, in the Search Room, Parliamentary Archives, London SW1A 0PW (tel. 020 7219 3074). Copies of the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members are available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmcode/1076/107601.htm or from The Stationery Office.

If someone alleges that a Member has not registered their interests in accordance with the rules of the House, I may investigate as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. If I find the allegation is substantiated, and for example the omission is minor or inadvertent, I may resolve it myself by means of the rectification procedure. In more serious cases I would expect to submit a memorandum to the Committee on Standards. Entries are printed in bold italics, with an appropriate explanatory note, when they have been made or amended following an inquiry by the Commissioner.

Any questions about the Register should be addressed to the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards at the House of Commons, London SW1A OAA or via standardscommissioner@parliament.uk .

Kathryn Hudson
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

29 June 2015

1 Cf Select Committee on Members’ Interests, First Report, Session 1991–92, “Registration and Declaration of Financial Interests”, HC 236, paragraph 27. 

2 The Code of Conduct together with The Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members 2015 , HC 1076; http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmcode/1076/107601.htm 

3 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmcode/1885/188501.htm . 

1 Job titles and descriptions are set out on the webpages of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority .  

1 During the 2010 Parliament this information was published as Part 2 of the Register. 

Prepared 30th June 2015