Foreword
This is the first Annual Report of my term as Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards. I took up my post on 1 January 2013
and consider it a great privilege to have the opportunity to support
the House in operating and, as necessary, developing its standards
framework. I have appreciated the warm welcome which I have received
from those Members whom I have so far had the opportunity to meet.
I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, John Lyon, for
his work during a difficult period for the House and for his comprehensive
work to revise and update the Code of Conduct and the Guide to
the Rules. I am personally grateful to him for his helpful contribution
to my induction period and for ensuring a careful handover of
current work. Much of this report relates to work undertaken during
his period of tenure.
During the course of 2012-13, a total of 117 complaints
were made, of which seven were accepted for inquiry. Nine were
resolved, four of which had been carried forward from the previous
year. Two active inquiries have been carried forward into 2013-14.
The overall numbers of complaints received are not dissimilar
to those of the previous two years. There were more inquiries
into the registration or declaration of Members' financial interests
than into any other subject.
With a relatively low level of investigations in
hand during my early months in office, I have had the opportunity
to consider how to build upon the firm foundation of a standards
framework which has been in existence for many years. In the meantime
my office continues with our day to day task of helping Members
to ensure that their interests are transparent to other Members,
to Ministers and to the public. On some occasions this requires
them to provide details about their financial interests to the
Registrar or her assistants for publication in the Registers.
On others it requires Members to make oral declarations in the
Chamber, in committee or elsewhere. I understand that there are
many other pressing demands on a Member's time, but there remains
room for improvement in the timeliness of registration and I foresee
that our work in this area will be of increasing importance in
the future.
I am concerned that the House has not yet considered
the revisions to the Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct
of Members which were proposed by the Committee on Standards in
December 2012. My predecessor and the Committee on Standards
and Privileges undertook considerable work to produce an entirely
new Guide, which both clarifies and simplifies the expectations
on Members. I believe it will support Members in their day to
day work if these can be introduced in the near future. I hope
the House will also soon have a chance to reconsider its decision
to prevent the Commissioner from investigating the conduct of
any Member in his or her private and personal lives, when that
conduct has significantly damaged the reputation and integrity
of the House or its Members generally. Such conduct is rare and
the Committee offered an additional safeguard to prevent unwarranted
intrusion into Members' lives by recommending that the Commissioner
should only undertake such an investigation with the Committee's
agreement. If the House accepts this change, it will bring clarity
to the rules in this area and to my remit.
Codes of conduct and defined standards of behaviour
are now widespread, particularly across professional bodies and
public services. The contents of these codes and the expectations
placed upon those who are subject to them change gradually over
time with changes in the attitudes of society. These in turn are
shaped by experiences and events. The expectations set out by
the codes provide one of the foundations for the trust which people
have in those who are given power over their lives. Without this
trust democracy is threatened. Being a Member of Parliament is
not a profession. Nevertheless, as representatives elected by
their constituents, Members have a responsibility to safeguard
their own integrity and reputation as individuals and the integrity
of the House as a whole. I have been impressed by the way in
which Members I have met carry out a complex and multi-faceted
set of responsibilities in widely varying circumstances. Much
of this is not visible to the outside world and trust remains
at a low level. Members will need to consider whether the new
Guide, with the changes it proposes, supports them in moving the
House a step closer to a framework which aligns with the expectations
of their constituents, and with the codes of practice which apply
to others with similar levels of responsibility in different walks
of life.
Ultimately, it is important that the rules are upheld.
Trust will be restored by individual Members considering not only
their personal integrity but also how their behaviour, whatever
their intentions, is perceived by the external world. This is
a high standard and also an aspiration which cannot be defined
by specific rules. It is the active implementation of the principles
of conduct set out and recently reviewed by the Committee on Standards
in Public Life.
Within my own office there is work to do to increase
the transparency and accessibility of my work to the external
world as well as to Members. I hope to use a number of opportunities
in the coming months to help Members and their staff to become
more familiar with the Rules and with other aspects of the work
of my office. Few people in the external world are aware of the
role which my office plays. In addition to this, I know that members
of the public sometimes have difficulty in finding out how to
complain or are not able to work out which aspects of a Member's
work fall within my remit. I have already revised my leaflet on
the process for making complaints and work has begun on my web
pages. The intention is to make the information which the House
has agreed should be published easier to find and to direct people
whose concerns I cannot address to other agencies where possible.
Kathryn Hudson
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 3
July 2013
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