FOREWORD
BY THE CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENTS
The
Code of Conduct adopted by the House on 2nd July 2001 establishes
a Register and a Registrar of Lords' Interests. The operation
of the Register is overseen by the Sub-Committee on Lords' Interests,
a sub-committee of the Committee for Privileges. The Registrar,
who is responsible for preparing the Register and advising Members,
consults the Sub-Committee when necessary. The Code itself is
printed below.
The Code requires that the Register be reprinted
once a year and this new printed edition meets this requirement
and follows an exercise in which all Members of the House were
invited to confirm or amend their entries.
Between printed editions, the Register is continually
kept up to date in loose-leaf form and may be inspected at the
Table of the House and in the Table Office and the Library. Members
of the public can inspect the Register in the Parliamentary Archives,
and an electronic version, updated every week, is available online
at .www.parliament.uk.
The Code requires all Members of the House of
Lords in receipt of a Writ of Summons, who are not on Leave of
Absence, to register all relevant interests. The test of relevance
is whether the interest might reasonably be thought by the public
to affect the way in which a Member discharges his or her parliamentary
duties. Relevant interests include both financial and non-financial
interests. Those interests which the Code identifies as "always
relevant" must be registered and are set out in paragraphs
12 (financial) and 15 (non-financial) of the Code; other interests
may be registered "depending on their significance"
and are set out in paragraphs 13 and 16. Members must register
relevant interests within one month of acquiring them.
The Sub-Committee has recommended that registrations
relating to paragraphs 13 and 16 of the Code (other relevant interests)
be restricted to those interests which might reasonably be thought
by the public to affect in general the way in which Members discharge
their parliamentary duties. A Member may have additional interests,
relevant in particular circumstances, which will then require
declaration in the context of those circumstances (for
example, a debate in the Chamber, or a letter to a Government
Minister or executive agency).
Members who are in doubt as to whether an interest
is relevant for the purposes of the Register should seek the advice
of the Registrar. A Member who acts on the advice of the Registrar
in determining what is a relevant interest satisfies fully the
requirements of the Code of Conduct. In cases of difficulty the
Registrar will consult the Sub-Committee on Lords' Interests.
Members of the House should accept its decision as if it were
that of the House. For further guidance, Members may wish to consult
paragraphs 4.76-4.82 of the Companion to the Standing Orders and
Guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords; the debates and
resolutions of the House of 1st and 7th November 1995 and 2nd
and 24th July 2001; reports of the Committee for Privileges; and
take the advice of the Registrar and other clerks.
For the avoidance of doubt, visits made by Members
under the auspices of the United Kingdom Government and Parliament,
the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Inter-Parliamentary
Union and other similar inter-parliamentary bodies are not registered.
All other expenses-paid visits made by Members are registered,
including those made under the auspices of All-Party Groups and
the Industry and Parliament Trust.
The Code of Conduct is currently under review by
a Group of Members of the House appointed by the Leader of the
House. The Group is likely to report with recommendations in October
2009. Any changes to the Code resulting from this review would
require the agreement of the House.
MICHAEL POWNALL
Clerk of the Parliaments
21 July 2009
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