1 Report
1. This Report arises from a complaint from Paul
Turner-Mitchell that Mr Simon Danczuk had failed to enter in the
Register of Members' Financial Interests, within the 28 days required,
payments in connection with the publication and serialisation
of a book 'Smile for the Camera'. In the course of the
Commissioner's inquiry into this allegation, it became clear not
only that that Mr Danczuk had failed to register at the appropriate
time a number of payments related to the book, but that he continued
to make late entries even while the Commissioner was investigating
the original allegation. The Commissioner therefore found Mr Danczuk
in breach of the Rules of the House in respect of timely registration.
2. Failure to register on time is not, unfortunately,
uncommon. Exact figures are not easy to come by, because it is
not always necessary to register the date on which a benefit is
received. Analysis of the register shows, however, that, in 2014-15,
15% of the payments for employment for which dates were given
were registered late. In the absence of a complaint, late registration
is usually dealt with by the Registrar of Members' Financial Interests
asking the Member to explain and for an assurance that measures
have been taken to stop it happening again. The Committee is concerned
about late registration and has asked the Commissioner to keep
it informed about how often it happens.
3. When the Commissioner finds that a Member has
failed to register correctly but that the failure has been minor
and inadvertent, she may apply the rectification procedure. In
this case, however, although the Commissioner accepts that Mr
Danczuk had no intention of concealing any earnings, and although
he has apologised to her for the omissions, she decided instead
to prepare a memorandum to the Committee. She did so because the
sum of money (nearly £20,000) was so large and because the
late entries (thirteen in total, of which six related to the publication
of the book) were so numerous. We agree with her judgement and
are grateful to her for bringing this case to our attention.
4. The Commissioner was concerned that the late entries
continued even while she was investigating the original allegation.
She is not convinced that Mr Danczuk has yet set up a system which
will prevent them. He explained to her that the problem had arisen
when the staff member who had previously dealt with his registration
entries had left and he had taken the work on himself. He wrote
to the Commissioner: "I've considered registration, perhaps
incorrectly, a private matter for which I should take responsibility,
rather than another member of staff". In interview he explained
to her that he found administration difficult and had not prioritised
registration as he should.
5. At various times Mr Danczuk made different suggestions
as to which of his staff might be given the work of keeping his
register entries up-to-date in future: the co-author of the book,
his wife or an unspecified 'other member of staff'. Mr Danczuk
explained that he planned to "email them a description of
the payment received and work carried on every occasion",
which the staff member could then format and send to the Registrar.
Like the Commissioner, we would welcome evidence of a firm nomination
from Mr Danczuk of the staff member who will be given the role,
and note that any system will depend not only on the staff member
concerned but also on Mr Danczuk himself keeping up to date with
the supply of information. The responsibility is of course, as
he accepts, ultimately his own.
6. We note that the Commissioner's memorandum concludes
"I have also asked the Registrar, if Mr Danczuk is re-elected,
to report to me in October 2015 on his registration practices."[1]
In view of Mr Danczuk's failure to keep his Register entries up
to date in the past year, we support this action. We expect that
if the Commissioner continues to have concerns, she will raise
them with the Committee.
7. We recommend that Mr Danczuk's late entries appear
as if they had been subject to the rectification procedure. We
note that he has also apologised to the Commissioner and recommend
no additional action in respect of these late registrations.
1 Appendix, para 33 Back
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