Annex 11
Letter to Mr Geoffrey Bindman, Bindman
& Partners, Solicitors, from the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
Thank you for your letter of 11 January 2001. I have
completed my memorandum and submitted it to the Committee. The
Clerk of the Committee informs me that it will be sent to the
Committee this week.
I am afraid that the procedure laid down by the Standards
and Privileges Committee does not include a second opportunity
for a Member to see my memorandum prior to its receipt by the
Committee. But I can tell you that, in the light of the representations
you made on Mr. Vaz's behalf, I have made a number of corrections,
including some to the table at appendix 2, and removed some wording
from the memorandum I have submitted to the committee. I was not
able to agree to all Mr. Vaz's proposed amendments, or requests
for material to be omitted, where I believe the Committee needs
to see the full background material. However, I have annexed your
representations to my memorandum to the Committee so as to ensure
that they are aware that Mr Vaz will wish (a) to have certain
passages removed from my memorandum before the Committee publishes
it, and (b) to appear before the Committee in support of his request.
It is the practice of the Committee, should they
decide they wish the Member to appear before them to provide the
Member with a copy of my memorandum. In cases where the Committee
decides that they do not need to see the Member, the Member is
provided with a copy of the Committee's report, which includes
my memorandum, at least one hour before publication.
The Clerk of the Committee will contact you concerning
any of these arrangements after the Committee has made any such
decisions.
17 January 2001
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