Annex 1
Fundamental
principles
In July 1995, the House agreed to adopt the Code
of Conduct for Members of Parliament—the latest version
is on the Parliament Website at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmcode.htm.
This includes a number of principles of personal
conduct. These are based on concepts of selflessness, integrity,
objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
The Code of Conduct contains the following rule:
Members are personally responsible and accountable
for ensuring that their use of any expenses, allowances, facilities
and services provided from the public purse is in accordance with
the rules laid down on these matters. Members shall ensure that
their use of public resources is always in support of their parliamentary
duties. It should not confer any undue personal or financial benefit
on themselves or anyone else, or confer undue advantage on a political
organisation.
Members should also follow the following principles
in their use of resources:
· Facilities
and services are provided in order to assist Members in their
parliamentary work.
· Facilities
and services should be used appropriately, in such a way as to
ensure that the reputation of the House is not put at risk. They
should not be used for party political campaigning or fundraising,
or private business activity.
· It is not permissible
for a Member to use resources for anything for which the Member
is claiming from any other source.
· The House is
committed to openness about what resources have been used and
for what purposes.
· Individual
Members take personal responsibility for all resources used, and
for keeping records, even if the use of those resources is delegated
by them to others.
Applying
the principles
In the majority of cases, the application of these
principles will be straightforward. But the role of Members is
constantly evolving and different Members have different needs,
priorities and ways of performing their duties. Therefore there
will always be areas of uncertainty and the need to exercise individual
judgement.
The following questions are designed to assist Members
in coming to a decision about whether or not the use of Parliamentary
resources is appropriate:
· Is
this resource genuinely being used by me in my role as a Member
of Parliament as opposed to my personal capacity?
· Is this resource
supporting me in carrying out my parliamentary duties? Defining
parliamentary duties is difficult but Members may wish to consider
(i) the generally accepted parliamentary functions: the legislative
role; the oversight and accountability role; and the representative
role, including dealing with constituents' problems and (ii) obligations
they may have, for example as a small employer.[1]
· Anything which
is done for personal benefit or for electioneering or for the
direct support of a political party will not be part of a Member's
parliamentary duties.
· Could the use
of the resource in any way damage the reputation of Parliament
or its Members?
· How comfortable
do I feel with the knowledge that details of use of resources
will be available to the public under Freedom of Information?
Short
Money and Representative Money
Financial Assistance to Opposition Parties (Short
Money and Representative Money) is made available to assist opposition
parties to carry out their parliamentary business. Given the nature
of opposition work, Short Money and Representative Money can be
used for party political purposes. In this context, Parliamentary
business may be defined as:
· research
associated with front bench duties,
· developing
and communicating alternative policies to those of the Government
of the day, and
· shadowing the
Government's front bench.
It does not include political campaigning and similar
partisan activities, political fundraising, membership campaigns
or personal or private business of any kind.
1 A helpful list of recognised functions commonly expected
of MPs has been published by both the Modernisation Committee
(Revitalising the Chamber: the role of a back bench Member,
HC 337 2006-07, p9) and the Committee on Standards in Public Life
(MPs' expenses and allowances: Supporting Parliament, safeguarding
the taxpayer, Cm 7724, November 2009, p31). Most recently,
the Committee on Standards suggested a description of the role
of an MP in its report The Standards System of the House of
Commons (HC 383 2014-15) Back
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