The Committee on Standards and Privileges
The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed
by the House of Commons to consider specific matters relating
to privileges referred to it by the House; 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;
to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering
or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner;
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. The constitution and powers of the
Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149.
The Committee consists of eleven Members, of whom
the quorum for any formal proceedings is five. The members of
the Committee are appointed by the House and unless discharged
remain on the Committee until the next dissolution of Parliament.
The present membership of the Committee is as follows:[1]
Mr Martin Bell OBE MP[2] (Independent,
Tatton)
Mr Peter Bottomley MP[3]
(Conservative, Worthing West)
Mr Malcolm Bruce MP[4]
(Liberal Democrat, Gordon)
Mr Dale Campbell-Savours MP3 (Labour, Workington)
Rt Hon Eric Forth MP[5]
(Conservative, Bromley and Chislehurst)
Mr Michael Jabez Foster DL MP3 (Labour, Hastings
and Rye)
Mr Tom Levitt MP3 (Labour, High Peak)
Mr Terry Lewis MP3 (Labour, Worsley)
Shona McIsaac MP3 (Labour, Cleethorpes)
Rt Hon Robert Sheldon MP3 (Labour, Ashton under
Lyne)
Rt Hon Alan Williams MP3 (Labour, Swansea West)
On 1 July 1997 the Committee elected Mr Robert
Sheldon as its Chairman.
The Committee has the power to require the submission
of written evidence and documents, to examine witnesses and to
make Reports to the House. In the footnotes to this Report, references
to oral evidence are indicated by 'Q' followed by the question
number, and references to the written evidence are indicated by
'Ev' followed by a page number.
The Committee may meet at any time (except when Parliament
is prorogued or dissolved) and at any place within the United
Kingdom. The Committee has power to order the attendance of any
Member of Parliament before the committee and to require that
specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating
to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be
laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to
allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers,
if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in
the Committee's meetings, but they cannot vote.
The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published
by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications
of the Committee are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/
s&phome.htm. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present
Parliament is at the end of the volume.
All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk
of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Committee Office,
House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general
inquiries is 020 7219 6615.
1 Mr Quentin Davies MP (Conservative, Grantham and
Stamford) was appointed on 25 June 1997 and discharged on
22 June 1998. Rt Hon Sir Alastair Goodlad KCMG MP (Conservative,
Eddisbury until 28 June 1999) was appointed on 22 June 1998
and discharged on 19 January 1999. Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP
(Liberal Democrat, Ross, Skye and Inverness West) was appointed
on 25 June 1997 and discharged on 3 November 1999. Rt Hon Ann
Widdecombe MP (Conservative, Maidstone and The Weald) was
appointed on 25 June 1997 and discharged on 3 December 1997. Back
2 Appointed
on 3 December 1997. Back
3 Appointed
on 25 June 1997. Back
4 Appointed
on 3 November 1999. Back
5 Appointed
on 19 January 1999. Back
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