Report
The Code of Conduct and the Guide
to the Rules
1. The House of Commons Code of Conduct sets out
the principles and high level rules which should govern MPs' behaviour.
It is accompanied by a more detailed Guide to the Rules which
sets out the detailed requirements for registration and declaration
of interests, and the rules relating to lobbying. The Committee
on Standards in Public Life has recommended regular review of
the Code and Guide. In November 2011 and December 2012 the Committee
on Standards and Privileges recommended changes to these documents
in two separate reports, based on proposals from the then Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon CB.[1]
2. For the reasons we explore in this Report, the
House has not yet considered the proposals for the Guide to the
Rules. We consider it is time it did so. A General Election is
imminent. This Committee has established a Standards Review Sub
Committee to look at the standards system as a whole. While the
Sub Committee will report before Dissolution, it will not do so
until near the end of the year and it is possible its recommendations
will not be considered until the next Parliament. The Commissioner
and the Committee will review the Code and Guide in the next Parliament,
doubtless building on the recommendations of the Standards Sub
Committee. Given the burden on the Parliamentary Commissioner's
Office that a new Parliament inevitably brings, that work cannot
be complete until the second year of the new Parliament, at the
earliest.
3. In our view the Committee on Standards and Privileges's
proposals are an improvement on the Guide currently in force.
In order for the Guide to the Rules to command the support of
the House we need to reach an agreed position on the Code of Conduct
and this Report sets out a basis for agreeing a new approach to
the Code of Conduct which will clear the way to approving the
long overdue Guide to Rules.
4. As the Commissioner noted in his consultation
on the Guide:
The Guide was first produced in its current form
in 1996. Since then, it has developed largely piecemeal, being
added to and revised to deal with particular circumstances as
they have arisen. It started as a 21-page document. It is now
35 pages.[2]
It has developed piecemeal, and on several occasions
we have needed to clarify the interpretation of the rules. The
Commissioner proposed a comprehensive revision to the Guide to
clarify the requirements on Members and to bring it up to date.
The proposed changes to the Guide also responded to the recommendations
of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) evaluation report
on corruption prevention in respect of Members of Parliament,
judges and prosecutors.[3]
GRECO was established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor
States' compliance with the organisation's anti-corruption standards,
and the United Kingdom is a member. The evaluation report made
a number of recommendations for the United Kingdom. The Committee
on Standards and Privileges considered both the Commissioner's
proposals and the GRECO recommendations very carefully in drawing
up its draft Guide. Details of the Committee's proposals are set
out in the Committee on Standards and Privileges's Report on Proposed
Revisions to the Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of
Members. As the GRECO report had not been published when that
report was released this Committee, the Committee on Standards,
subsequently issued a Report setting out the way in which the
Committee's recommendations related to GRECO's work.[4]
For convenience we have included the proposed Guide to the Rules
and the summary of GRECO recommendations and responses as annexes
to this Report. In summary, the Committee on Standards and Privileges
proposed revisions to the rules to make registration simpler and
clearer, harmonise the rules for registering gifts, benefits and
hospitality and tighten the rules on lobbying. It also proposed
clarifying the relation between the Guide to the Rules and Resolutions
of the House, some of which were drawn up many years ago, and
have not been amended to reflect, for example, changes in the
machinery of Government, through agreement of a Resolution stipulating
that previous Resolutions relating to conduct should be read in
a way which was compatible with the Code and Guide currently in
force.
INTERESTS OF COMMITTEE CHAIRS
5. In January this year this Committee consulted
on the financial interests of select committee chairs.[5]
Our consultation elicited only four responses. We note that the
proposed changes to the Guide to the Rules prohibit Members who
receive an outside reward or consideration from a third party
from initiating proceedings which would have the effect of conferring
any financial or material benefit on such a third party. We note
that initiating proceedings would include proposing a draft Report
in a select committee. We expect any Committee member to stand
aside from an inquiry in which his or her interests are closely
involved, and we are aware that this is usual practice. Nonetheless,
this is not well understood outside the House. Adoption of the
Guide proposed by the Committee on Standards would deal with concerns
about committee chairs' interests in a transparent and proportionate
way until the next Parliament.
Proposed revision of the Code
of Conduct
6. We understand that the reason the changes in the
Guide have still not been debated is that there are concerns about
a related proposal to amend the Code of Conduct. In November 2011
the Committee on Standards and Privileges recommended a new Code
of Conduct to the House of Commons. On the advice of the then
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, the Committee recommended
redrawing the Code to make its scope more clear. The previous
Code, dating from 2009, had included a rule that
Members shall at all times conduct themselves
in a manner which will tend to maintain and strengthen the public's
trust and confidence in the integrity of Parliament and never
undertake any action which would bring the House of Commons, or
its members generally, into disrepute.
This was a mixture of an aspirational injunction,
and a prohibition of particular behaviour.
7. The scope of the 2009 Code was as follows:
The Code applies to Members in all aspects of
their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members do
in their purely private and personal lives.
The revised Code put forward by the Committee changed
the scope of the Code:
2. The Code applies to a Member's conduct which
relates in any way to their membership of the House. The Code
does not seek to regulate the conduct of Members in their purely
private and personal lives or in the conduct of their wider public
lives unless such conduct significantly damages the reputation
and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole or of its Members
generally.
It also shortened the previous rule to read "Members
shall never undertake any action which would cause significant
damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons
as a whole, or of its Members generally".
8. The Committee on Standards and Privileges drew
the House's particular attention to this proposal. It made it
clear that where wider public life or personal life was in question
"in all but the most extreme circumstances it is for the
party and the electorate to judge a candidate's behaviour"
but ultimately agreed with the Commissioner that the House should
be able to take action in such extreme cases. It stressed that,
like the Commissioner, it did not think the Committee or the House
should be drawn into judging a Member's purely private and personal
relationships. Despite these assurances, this aspect of the proposed
Code was amended when the proposed change was debated in the House
on 12 March 2012. The House inserted a prohibition on the Commissioner
investigating matters which related only to the conduct of a Member
in their private and personal lives.
9. When the Committee on Standards and Privileges
reported on revisions to the Guide to the Rules, the Committee
expressed its concern at this amendment. In its view, the result
of the amendment was that in extreme circumstances it would be
possible for a Member to breach the Code because of action in
his or her personal and private life, but that either the House
would be unable to act, or it would have to try to initiate some
unprecedented procedure without the involvement of the independent
Commissioner. The Committee itself might have to act as both investigator
and adjudicator, which would clearly be unsatisfactory. In consequence,
the Committee on Standards and Privileges recommended that the
House revise the Code. As a safeguard, it proposed a requirement
that the Commissioner would be able to investigate, but only with
the express consent of the Committee on Standards and that that
consent should be given only in exceptional circumstances.
10. We understand that this proposed safeguard has
not commanded support. The debate in the House on 12 March 2012
and our subsequent discussions suggest that those who wish to
restrict the Commissioner's power to investigate have a narrow
view of what would be purely private and personal behaviour. In
practical terms, we expect that there would be agreement between
them and the Committee as to whether particular actions should
be caught by the Code. We understand that some Members are concerned
that a future Commissioner may not share such an understanding,
and may not consider him or herself as bound by the assurances
given when the changes to the Code were recommended. Those who
resist the change consider that, in practice, a Committee would
not be able to deny consent to an investigation if the Commissioner
requested it, whatever its views of the merits of the case. We
do not share these fears, but we recognise there are real concerns.
11. We have been trying to find a compromise which
will give colleagues the reassurance they need, while ensuring
the principle that allegations about misconduct are investigated
by an independent person. In our view, this independent investigation
protects both the House and the Member under investigation. We
now propose a new way forward. We recommend returning the scope
of the Code to that which applied in 2009 as follows:
The Code applies to Members in all aspects of
their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members do
in their purely private and personal lives.
Paragraph 17 of the existing Code would then be deleted,
because there would be no question of the Code being breached
by actions in purely personal and private life. The following
table sets out the changes:
| Current Code of Conduct
| Proposed Revision
|
| II. Scope of the Code
| II. Scope of the Code
|
| 2. The Code applies to a Member's conduct which relates in any way to their membership of the House. The Code does not seek to regulate the conduct of Members in their purely private and personal lives or in the conduct of their wider public lives unless such conduct significantly damages the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole or of its Members generally.
| 2. The Code applies to Members in all aspects of their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members do in their purely private and personal lives.
replacing
2. The Code applies to a Member's conduct which relates in any way to their membership of the House. The Code does not seek to regulate the conduct of Members in their purely private and personal lives or in the conduct of their wider public lives unless such conduct significantly damages the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole or of its Members generally.
|
| 2. The Code applies to a Member's conduct which relates in any way to their membership of the House. The Code does not seek to regulate the conduct of Members in their purely private and personal lives or in the conduct of their wider public lives unless such conduct significantly damages the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole or of its Members generally.
| |
| V. Rules of Conduct
| V. Rules of Conduct
|
| 9. Members are expected to observe the following rules and associated Resolutions of the House.
| 9. Members are expected to observe the following rules and associated Resolutions of the House.
|
| 16. Members shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its Members generally.
| 16. Members shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its Members generally.
|
| 17. The Commissioner may not investigate a specific matter under paragraph 16 which relates only to the conduct of a Member in their private and personal lives.
| 17. The Commissioner may not investigate a specific matter under paragraph 16 which relates only to the conduct of a Member in their private and personal lives.
|
Conclusion
12. The dispute over the exact terms of the Code
has meant that the proposed changes to the Guide to the Rules
have not been put before the House. We trust our new proposal
will both reassure colleagues that the Code will not deal with
purely private and personal matters, while reasserting the principle
of independent investigation. The expectation is that the Code
and Guide will be reviewed once every Parliament. There would
be nothing but confusion if the current rules were in force after
the election, the proposed revisions made shortly thereafter and
then replaced by a further revision toward the end of the Parliament.
In practical terms, the changes have to be considered now. If
they are not, Members entering the House after the election will
be bound by a Guide which is not always clear, is out of date
and which does not respond to the recommendations of a Treaty
organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member.
13. It is for the House to determine the rules which
govern its behaviour. It is at liberty to amend our proposals
or reject them entirely. But the rules are out of date, and need
to be considered. We recommend that the House debates this Report
and:
a) agrees a new Resolution to the effect that:
That previous Resolutions of this House in relation
to the conduct of Members shall be read and given effect in such
a way which is compatible with the Code of Conduct and the Guide
to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members.
b) approves the Guide to the Rules appended to
this Report, to take effect from the beginning of the next Parliament;
c) approves the following amendments to the Code
of Conduct:
i) to leave out paragraph 2 and insert
"The Code applies to Members in all aspects
of their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members
do in their purely private and personal lives."
ii) to leave out paragraph 17
If the Government does not find time for a debate,
we ourselves will seek a backbench business debate. We would regret
this.
1 Nineteenth Report of the Committee on Standards and
Privileges of Session 2010-12, Review of the Code of Conduct,
HC 1579; Back
2
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards consultation paper, Review
of the Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members,
January 2012, p 3 Back
3
Group of States against Corruption, Fourth Evolution Round:
Corruption prevention in respect of members of Parliament, judges
and prosecutors evaluation report, United Kingdom, March 2013. Back
4
Committee on Standards, First Report of Session 2012-13, Guide
to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members: GRECO Report
and other developments HC 724 Back
5
Committee on Standards, Eighth Report of Session 2013-14, Interests
of Committee Chairs a consultation HC 997 Back
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