9. Letter to Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
from the Commissioner, 11 January 2008
Thank you for your letter of 11 January with a copy
of the declaration you have made to the Register and of your statement
to the press. I shall report your apologies - for which I am grateful
- to the Committee on Standards and Privileges.
The main purpose of this letter is to invite your
comments on a complaint I have received from Mr David Davies MP
that you failed to register in the Register of Members' Interests,
within the time limit required, all the donations you received
in respect of your campaign for election as Deputy Leader of the
Labour Party.
I attach a copy of Mr Davies's letter of 8 January
which he copied to you, together with a copy of the Guardian article
of the same date. I have confirmed with Mr Davies that he wishes
his letter to be treated as a formal complaint.
The essence of Mr Davies's complaint is that your
failure to register some donations in the Register of Members'
Interests is contrary to the relevant Resolutions of the House.
Paragraph 16 of the Code of Conduct for Members provides:
"Members shall fulfil conscientiously the
requirements of the House in respect of the registration of interests
in the Register of Members' Interests and shall always draw attention
to any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its
Committees, or in any communication with Ministers, Government
Departments or Executive Agencies."
Paragraph 11 of the Guide to the Rules provides:
"Members of Parliament are required to complete
a registration form and submit it to the Commissioner for Standards
within three months of their election to the House (whether at
a general election or a by-election). After the initial publication
of the Register (or, in the case of Members returned at by-elections,
after their initial registration) it is the responsibility of
Members to notify changes in their registrable interests within
four weeks of each change occurring."
Category 4 of the Guide deals with Sponsorships defined
as:
a) Any donation received by a Member's constituency
association which is linked either to candidacy at an election
or to membership of the House; and
b) any other form of financial or material support
as a Member of Parliament,
amounting to more than £1,000 from a single
source, whether as a single donation or as multiple donations
of more than £200 during the course of a calendar year.
And paragraph 27 gives more information about what
is covered by category 4b.
I should be grateful if, in accordance with the procedures
set out in the enclosed note, you would send me your response
to Mr Davies's complaint. It would be helpful if, in doing this,
you could:
- set out in full the sequence
of events in respect of registration from receipt of your first
donation to sending your letter of 10 January to the Registrar;
- identify the dates of receipt of each donation,
from whom they came, and the nature of the donations (i.e. whether
they were financial or material support) and the sums involved
or the type of support given;
- let me know whether you delegated to any member
or members of your staff tasks to assist you in registering donations
with the Registrar of Members' Interests both during the course
of your campaign and afterwards. If so, would you let me know
who these staff members were, and in any event what the procedures
were?;
- let me know the reasons why the registrations
in the Register of Members' Interests stopped on the 18 May 2007,
and the reasons why they resumed again on 30 November with Mr
Mendelson's registration and why the full list was not available
until the declaration your office sent the Registrar on 10 January.
I would welcome any other comments you may wish to
make.
Once I have received your response I will consider
the way forward. In the meantime if you would like to speak about
the complaint at any point, please do not hesitate to contact
me on the number above. In any event I look forward to receiving
your response.
In the meantime I shall inform Mr Davies that I have
written to you. I am confirming in response to press inquiries
that I have received a complaint against you from Mr Davies and
am considering it in accordance with the published procedures.
11 January 2008
| 
