4 Registers of interests for Members,
Members' Secretaries and Research Assistants, Journalists, and
All-Party Groups
Introduction
4.1 The Commissioner's office is responsible for
the compilation of the four registers of interests required by
the House, namely the Register of Members' Financial Interests,
the Register of Interests of Members' Secretaries and Research
Assistants (commonly called the Members' Staff Register), the
Register of Journalists' Interests and the Register of All-Party
Groups. The registers provide a publicly available record of the
interests which might be thought to influence the actions of a
Member in his or her parliamentary capacity, or the actions of
other holders of a parliamentary pass.
4.2 The Members' Register is published in hard copy
once every twelve months, usually in January, except in election
years and those immediately following when different arrangements
apply. The first printed Register of the 2010 Parliament was published
on 6 September 2010, and the second on 13 January 2012. Every
item appears in at least one printed edition to ensure the availability
of a complete historical record, in hard copy, of every Member's
entries. Between printed editions, updates are published electronically
on the parliamentary website every two weeks during sitting periods.
4.3 The other three Registers are also published
electronically on the parliamentary website. Print-outs of the
current edition of each Register are also available for public
inspection, by appointment, and arrangements can be made to see
those earlier editions of the Registers which do not appear on
the parliamentary webpages.[17]
Register of Members' Financial
Interests
4.4 The main purpose of the Register of Members'
Financial Interests is:
"to provide information of any pecuniary
interest or other material benefit which a Member receives which
might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her
actions, speeches or votes in Parliament, or actions taken in
his or her capacity as a Member of Parliament, and such
other information as the House may from time to time require."[18]
4.5 The printed Register of January 2012, at 379
pages, is over 20 pages longer than its predecessor, and the longest
Register published to date. This is largely because of the amount
of detail Members are required to provide when they register any
remunerated employment under Categories 1 (Directorships), 2 (Remunerated
employment, office, profession etc) and 3 (Clients). Since 1 July
2009 Members have been required to include the precise amount
of each payment received, the nature of the work involved, the
hours to which the payment relates and the name and address of
the person or organisation paying them.[19]
The requirement was however modified on 7 February 2011 when the
House reintroduced financial thresholds for these categories.
These are now, for individual payments, 0.1% of a Member's salary
(currently £66); and for the cumulative total of payments
from the same source in a calendar year, 1% of salary (currently
£660). I consider that this has been helpful in removing
from the register comparatively modest payments in money or in
kind which could not reasonably be thought to influence a Member.
4.6 Under the Resolution of the House of February
2009, Members are required to submit their entries for the Register
within one month of the date of their election, and thereafter
to register any change to their registered interests within four
weeks of that change occurring.[20]
Between printed editions the Register is updated online, at fortnightly
intervals while the House is sitting and less frequently during
recess. During 2011-12 my office published 18 such updates on
the parliamentary webpages. A typical update contains between
150 and 200 new items.
Register of Interests of Members'
Secretaries and Research Assistants
4.7 Those holding a parliamentary pass as a Member's
secretary or research assistant are required to record their details
in the Register of Interests of Members' Secretaries and Research
Assistants. Such staff are required to register any other occupation
from which they receive income of more than 0.5% of a Member's
salary (currently £329) in the course of a calendar year,
if that occupation is in any way advantaged by the privileged
access to Parliament afforded by their pass. They also have to
register any tangible gift (e.g. glassware) and any other benefit
(e.g. hospitality, services or facilities provided) which they
receive, if the value of the gift or benefit exceeds that sum
and the gift or benefit relates in any way to their work in Parliament.
4.8 The number of registered staff on 31 March 2012
was 1,784, a little up on the 1,680 staff who were registered
on 31 March 2011. The number of those staff with registered interests
was 352 on 31 March 2012, again up on the 299 staff with registered
interests on 31 March 2011. My office published eight editions
of the Staff Register in 2011-12.
Register of Journalists' Interests
4.9 Those holding a pass as a lobby journalist accredited
to the Parliamentary Press Gallery or for parliamentary broadcasting
are required to record in this Register any occupation or employment,
other than that with their sponsoring organisation, from which
they receive income of more than 1% of a Member's salary from
the same source in the course of a calendar year (currently £657),
if that occupation or employment is in any way advantaged by the
privileged access to Parliament afforded by their pass.
4.10 The number of registered journalists on 31 March
2012 was 410, slightly fewer than the 417 registered on 31 March
2011. The number of those journalists with registered interests
was 62 on 31 March 2012, rather fewer than the 74 who had registered
interests on 31 March 2011. My office published eight editions
of the Journalists' Register in 2011-12.
Register of All-Party Groups
4.11 The membership of All-Party Groups (APGs) consists
mainly of backbench Members of the House of Commons and Members
of the House of Lords but may also include Ministers and non-parliamentarians.
There are two types of group: subject groups and country groups.
4.12 In general, the number of Groups registered
is at its lowest soon after a general election, when all Groups
have to re-register, and rises during each Parliament. This trend
can be observed in the 2010 Parliament: on 31 March 2011 there
were 501 registered groups, comprising 127 country groups (25%
of the total) and 374 subject groups (75% of the total). This
had risen to 568 registered groups on 31 March 2012, of which
136 were country groups (24% of the total) and 432 were subject
groups (76% of the total).The number of groups with registered
financial or material benefits has also increased: there were
401 such groups on 31 March 2012 compared to 305 on 31 March 2011.
My office published eight editions of the Groups' Register in
2011-12.
Recent changes to the rules on
All-Party Groups
4.13 In the last year my office implemented the changes
to the rules on All-Party Groups which were agreed by the House
on 7 February 2011 to increase transparency about the Group's
membership and support. Groups are now required to provide more
information about their secretariat. To implement these changes
my office contacted every group with information about the changes,
which represented a considerable increase in the registration
requirements. The first Register to carry this additional information
was published on 23 June 2011.
4.14 On 12 March 2012 the House agreed a further
change to these arrangements. The Registrar had explained to the
Committee on Standards and Privileges in November 2011 that while
Members' secretaries and research assistants have to record their
own financial interests in the staff register, those who held
a pass because of their work for an APG were not subject to the
same requirement. The Committee therefore proposed to the House,
and the House agreed, that in future people who hold a pass because
of their work for an APG should have to register their own interests.
They suggested that the information should be included in the
APG register. As a consequence, the Member who is the Registered
Contact for each Group, although still required to register the
name of the Group's staff, is no longer responsible for registering
the staff member's financial interests. My office published the
first Register with this additional information on 4 May 2012.
4.15 There may be further changes in prospect. I
refer to the work of a cross-House working group established by
the Speakers of both Houses in Chapter 1.[21]
My office stands ready to support this with any follow-up work
required.
Complaints relating to the registration
and declaration of interests in the Staff, Journalist and All-Party
Group Registers
4.16 Complaints alleging that a Member's secretary
or researcher, a journalist or an All-Party Group has breached
the rules governing the Registers are in the first instance considered
by the Registrar of Members' Financial Interests.
4.17 During 2011-12 my office received five complaints
about failures to comply with the registration rules for Members'
secretaries and research assistants. Three of these complaints,
all concerning allegations of failures to register external employment,
were considered and resolved by the Registrar. The other two,
both concerning passholders who had left the House, were not accepted
for inquiry since they were not accompanied by sufficient evidence
to justify such an inquiry.
4.18 In the first case, alleging a failure to declare
external employment, the staff member concerned had not remembered
to update the Register when he was elected to the positions of
town councillor and district councillor. When this was brought
to his notice, he apologized and asked to make a late registration.
Under the rectification procedure, the necessary entry was made
in the Register in bold italic text, and remains in that form
for a period of twelve months.
4.19 The second case alleging a failure to register
external employment concerned a staff member who was employed
through his own company. He explained that since he became a passholder,
he had not undertaken any external employment, apart from the
work he undertook for his own political party. This was funded
by Short Money, which is provided by Parliament for the support
of opposition parties. Since Members' staff are not required to
register any work for which they are paid from parliamentary funding,
he was not in fact required to register such work. The Registrar
therefore did not uphold this complaint.
4.20 The third case concerned an alleged failure
to register external employment between August and December 2010.
The person concerned explained that his employment by a Member
had ended in May 2010, at the general election, and that he had
had no paid employment at all between August and December 2010.
He said that although during the period in question he still held
a parliamentary pass, he had barely used it in any capacity and
had not used it to advantage any external body. The Registrar
accepted the evidence and did not uphold this complaint.
4.21 During 2011-12 my office received no formal
complaints about entries in the Register of Journalists' Interests
or in the Register of All-Party Groups.
17 This can be arranged by calling 020 7 219 3074. Back
18
HC Deb 27 March 2008, Col 382-394 Back
19
Resolution of the House of 30 April 2009 Back
20
HC Deb, 9 February 2009, Cols 1114-1227 Back
21
See paragraph 1.21 Back
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