Standing Order No. 149
(1) There shall be a select
committee, called the Committee on Standards and Privileges—
(a) to consider specific matters relating to
privileges referred to it by the House;
(b) to oversee the work of the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed
by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility
of the Register of Members' Interests and any other registers
of interest established by the House; to review from time to time
the form and content of those registers; and to consider any specific
complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of
interests referred to it by the Commissioner; and
(c) to consider any matter relating to the conduct
of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged
breaches in any code of conduct to which the House has agreed
and which have been drawn to the committee's attention by the
Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to such code
of conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary.
(2) The committee shall consist of eleven Members,
of whom five shall be a quorum.
(3) Unless the House otherwise orders, each
Member nominated to the committee shall continue to be a member
of it for the remainder of the Parliament.
(4) The committee shall have power to appoint
sub-committees consisting of no more than seven Members, of whom
three shall be a quorum, and to refer to such sub-committees any
of the matters referred to the committee; and shall appoint one
such sub-committee to receive reports from the Commissioner relating
to investigations into specific complaints.
(5) The committee and any sub-committee shall
have power to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding
any adjournment of the House, to adjourn from place to place,
to report from time to time and to appoint specialist advisers
either to supply information which is not readily available or
to elucidate matters of complexity within the committee's order
of reference.
(6) The committee shall have power to order
the attendance of any Member before the committee or any sub-committee
and to require that specific documents or records in the possession
of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of
a sub-committee or of the Commissioner, be laid before the committee
or any sub-committee.
(7) The committee, or any sub-committee, shall
have power to refer to unreported evidence of former Committees
of Privileges or of former Select Committees on Members' Interests
and to any documents circulated to any such committee.
(8) The committee shall have power to refuse
to allow proceedings to which strangers are admitted to be broadcast.
(9) Mr Attorney General, the Advocate General
and Mr Solicitor General, being Members of the House, may attend
the committee or any sub-committee, may take part in deliberations,
may receive committee or sub-committee papers and may give such
other assistance to the committee or sub-committee as may be appropriate,
but shall not vote or make any motion or move any amendment or
be counted in the quorum.
The membership of the Committee since its nomination
on 25 June 1997 has been as follows:
Mr Martin Bell
(added 3 December 1997)
Mr Peter Bottomley
Mr Malcolm Bruce
(added 3 November 1999)
Mr Dale Campbell-Savours
Mr Quentin Davies
(discharged 22 June 1998)
Mr Eric Forth (added 19 January 1999)
Mr Michael Jabez Foster (Hastings & Rye)
Sir Alastair Goodlad
(added 22 June 1998 and
discharged 19 January 1999)
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Mr Charles Kennedy
(discharged 3 November 1999)
Mr Tom Levitt
Mr Terry Lewis
Shona McIsaac
Mr Robert Sheldon
Miss Ann Widdecombe
(discharged 3 December 1997)
Mr Alan Williams (Swansea West)
Mr Robert Sheldon was elected Chairman on 1 July
1997. |
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