Advising Members in General
2.2 Another way in which I have sought to achieve
this has been through the preparation - with the help of the Registrar
of Members' Interests - of a series of occasional notes, distributed
to all Members, containing advice on key topics. These notes,
the texts of which are agreed with the Committee on Standards
and Privileges, do not extend the scope of the Code of Conduct
or the Guide to the Rules but aim to supplement the advice in
the Guide with practical advice and tips on the topic in question.
2.3 Some of these notes have emerged from the experience
of the Committee in dealing with individual cases or have been
a response to an immediate concern. In other cases, I have tried
to look ahead to spot potential issues before they cropped up.
2.4 An example of the latter occurred during the
year covered by this report. Aware of the forthcoming general
election, the Committee approved a note advising Members on their
obligations under category 4 of the Guide to the Rules in respect
of the registration of political donations or sponsorship. This
is potentially a particularly difficult area of the Rules, partly
because not all donations are registrable and partly because there
are overlapping statutory obligations to report donations to the
Electoral Commission.[6]
2.5 Having shared a draft of the note with the Committee
on Standards and Privileges, the Registrar and I were invited
to present the key points at backbench meetings of two of the
main political parties. I was able to take account of the comments
received when finalising the note for approval by the Committee
before circulating it to all Members.
2.6 A second note produced during the year summarised
the obligation on Members to declare their interests -
for example in debate, meetings or Committee - obligations which
in some respects go wider than their obligations to register
interests. Proper declaration of relevant interests is important
at any time, but particularly during the early months of a new
Parliament whilst a new Register of Members' Interests is in preparation.
The Committee on Standards and Privileges approved a note on this
subject prior to the dissolution of Parliament in April, so that
it was ready for distribution to all Members at the start of the
new Parliament.
2.7 Distribution of material of this sort is not
always seen by some Members as an unalloyed blessing. I recognise
that Members are deluged with information from all sides. Yet
another note of advice from the Commissioner can seem like the
imposition of more bureaucratic red-tape on people doing a job
which is difficult enough already. It is therefore necessary
to be selective in this respect. That said I hope that the gradual
building up of this body of written advice - which all Members
can keep and access in the folder of standards material they have
each received from me - will be helpful to them as a source of
authoritative, practical reference material giving guidance on
key standards issues, and as a means of ensuring a consistent
approach to the interpretation of these matters.
Advising Individual Members
2.8 General guidance is helpful but the individual
circumstances of Members vary enormously. Much of the day-to-day
work of the Registrar and of myself consists of advising Members
on how to meet their obligations under the Code and Rules in the
context of their own particular circumstances. The Registrar and
the Executive Assistant in my office are in the frontline in giving
advice to Members, consulting me on any particularly difficult
or complex cases. I am grateful for the skill and sensitivity
with which they handle this not always straightforward task.
2.9 Over the years both of them have built up a good
deal of expertise, which it is important to capture. With this
in mind, the Registrar has started to build up a log of precedent
cases, as a continuing source of information and another means
of ensuring consistency of approach. This should prove of value
not only in the immediate future but also in the longer term.
Renewing the Register of Members'
Interests
2.10 On 28 January 2005 my office produced the annual
printed edition of the Register, which attracted the usual amount
of media attention to the more unusual or noteworthy entries.
In addition the Register is updated every six to eight weeks,
and the latest updated edition is posted on the House of Commons
web-site and is thus available for public scrutiny through the
world-wide web.
2.11 The last updated edition of the Register for
the Parliament of 2001-2005 was published on 11 April 2005, the
day on which that Parliament was dissolved. As I write this report,
work is proceeding on compiling the first Register of the new
Parliament, which is no mean task. Members have three months from
the start of the Parliament to submit their forms stating their
interests, that is, in this instance, until 16 August 2005. I
therefore expect the new Register to be published some time after
the House returns in the autumn.
6 Broadly, donations which are registrable in the Register
of Members' Interests are those which are linked to an individual
Member. Donations made to a constituency party organisation are
not registrable unless they are linked either to a Member's candidacy
at an election or to his or her membership of the House. Back
