Public talks and briefings
5.6 In addition to publishing information, the Chairman
and the Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, the
Registrar of Members' Interests and I regularly participate in
giving public talks and lectures on how the House handles standards
of conduct issues. In addition, each year we brief many visiting
groups of parliamentarians and others on the history and development
of our standards arrangements. In the past year alone we have
briefed groups from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canada, China,
El Salvador, Nigeria, Paraguay and Ukraine.
5.7 Occasionally invitations are extended to be part
of a UK team visiting another country with a view to assisting
it to improve standards of conduct in its public life. In February
2005, for example, I was privileged to be part of a team with
Peter Preston, former editor of the Guardian, and Brian Woods-Scawen
of the Committee on Standards in Public Life which visited Tirana,
Albania, at the invitation of the British Ambassador and under
the auspices of the British Association for Central and Eastern
Europe (BACEE). The Registrar will shortly visit Bucharest along
with French, German and other EU colleagues in connection with
a project under the PHARE programme.
5.8 Such occasions illustrate the widespread interest
among those overseas who are concerned with standards matters
in how the UK Parliament tackles these issues and sustains what
are generally regarded on any international comparison as high
standards. They also provide a valuable opportunity for the Registrar
and me to be challenged and tested about what we are doing and
why, and to benefit from the growing body of overseas experience.
Working with others
5.9 I also maintain regular contact with colleagues
in the UK who are also working on standards matters. These include
the Committee on Standards in Public Life, other regulatory agencies
- such as the Electoral Commission or the Standards Board for
England - and opposite numbers in the House of Lords and the devolved
Parliaments throughout the British Isles. With them I am able
to discuss how best to tackle shared or similar problems, and
to reduce any areas of overlap or duplication. The Registrar and
I recently discussed with the Electoral Commission, for example,
the prospects for streamlining and avoiding duplication of some
of the requirements which currently apply to Members, a goal towards
which I hope we may be able to make some progress in the coming
year.
