Parliamentary Standards Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for saving me the trouble of having to read out that very passage; I was about to move on to it, but I could not have made the point better than he has. Both Professor Dawn Oliver and the Clerk of the House have expressed the same concerns. It is worth reading the totality of the evidence, including the written submissions. It is crystal clear that clause 8 embarks on issues that go to the very heart of Parliament's independence. There is a solution. It is amendment 32, which would delete clause 8(2) and replace it with the words""may refer to the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges any findings it may make in relation to any member in the exercise of its functions."" "Findings" refers to findings of fact. IPSA would simply say to the Committee on Standards and Privileges that it had carried out an investigation, concluded that there had been a misclaim of x thousand pounds and thought that that should be drawn to the Committee's attention. That would be a completely neutral thing to do, because it would not be accompanied by any recommendation. The amendment would go a long way towards solving the problem.