Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, the Bill has always been of modest physical dimensions but, as a result of the amendments made in its passage through the Commons, it became even smaller. I am pleased that further concessions have been made today by the noble Baroness, Lady Royall; this means that its size is to be yet further reduced. However, despite this, the Bill still raises issues of significant constitutional importance. Accordingly, while its contents may be primarily of concern to the other place, I would suggest that this House would be wrong to abdicate its responsibility to revise its contents, particularly in relation to constitutional matters. In so far as this has been possible in the time available, the Select Committee on the Constitution has given careful consideration to the Bill in its present form. Its views have been made known to the House by its chairman, the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad. I agree with the views of the committee and will try to avoid trespassing on what the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, will say about the views of the committee. There are issues that I would like to address, which are by no means exhaustive. First, the Bill is premature. Secondly, I raise the question of whether we need a new criminal offence that can be committed only by Members of the House of Commons, when there is already a perfectly good existing criminal offence which would be applicable and which gives greater powers of punishment than those in the Bill. Thirdly, is there a danger that the Bill will undermine the delicate relationship between Parliament and the courts? This has been carefully established by the courts in relation to not interfering with proceedings in Parliament. I have not the benefit of the great experience of the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market, whose speech I endorse, but in addressing these issues I take into account my experience as chairman for a short time of the sub-committee on interests of Members of this House, the cases bearing on the relationship between Parliament and the courts that came before me when I sat as a judge, and the deliberations of the Select Committee on the Constitution. On the prematurity of the Bill, as I understand it a primary purpose of the Bill is to ensure that Members of the other place adopt the appropriate standards in making claims for the repayment of allowances. However, those standards have not yet been determined and are still under consideration. We still await the report of Sir Christopher Kelly. If you are still seeking to devise the appropriate standard, is it not unwise to introduce new methods of enforcing an as yet unidentified standard? Surely the method of enforcement should be tailored to meet the standard, not the other way round. The Bill curtails what the standard can be before it has been introduced and accepted by Parliament in that it assumes that it will be allowances based. Let me illustrate what I mean. A great many of the problems that have arisen over expenses are due to a lack of clarity about what can properly be claimed. It is my understanding that if clarity had been introduced into what Members in the other place were entitled to, many of the situations which have resulted in criticism would not have arisen. If that clarity could now be achieved, much of what is proposed in the Bill could be unnecessary. To take an extreme example, if it was decided that instead of being an unquantified amount a set sum was payable irrespective of what had been expended, the problem, at least in relation to that allowance, would largely disappear. How much better it would be to wait until full consultation has taken place and then legislate than to take the present course, which involves determining the remedy before the true dimension of what is required is known. As regards the new criminal offence, it is always possible for dishonest persons to make claims to receive that to which they are not entitled. This can happen in many circumstances and criminal offences can be committed by all sections of society. This is certainly not a temptation confined to Members of the other place. The criminal law therefore makes full provision to ensure that those who commit offences of this nature can be convicted and duly punished. What is the purpose of creating this new offence, which I believe does not add to the existing law, by providing that a Member, who for the purposes of the allowances scheme, ""provides information … that the member knows to be false or misleading in a material respect"?" This is well trodden ground. The presence of the new offence will only create confusion and allow the unjustified point to be made that Members of the other place are being treated with undue preference; for example, because the punishment is less than those available against the ordinary citizen. On the courts and Parliament, recent constitutional changes have undermined certain of the constitutional safeguards which have benefited our society for generations. This Bill creates a danger of undermining at least one of those safeguards, which is that the courts should avoid pronouncing on matters affecting the internal affairs of either House of Parliament. So far, by the exercise of appropriate sensitivity the courts have avoided conflict with Parliament. This has proved to be a constitutional safeguard. It is difficult to conceive of any more damaging way of disturbing the delicate relationship between Parliament and the courts than the courts taking upon themselves a supervisory role in relation to the manner in which Members are to be compensated for expenses incurred in the performance of their parliamentary duties. The Bill introduces methods of investigating, policing and adjudicating upon the activities of Members of the other place by IPSA and the commissioner, which could well come before the courts if the Bill remains in its present form. The adjudications by IPSA, which the Bill involves, will have very serious consequences for the reputation of those Members—albeit that they would not involve penalties of the sort imposed by the criminal courts. The Members who are proceeded against can reasonably expect to have the same rights as would be available to those who appear before ordinary disciplinary tribunals. The new bodies that are being created—the commissioner and IPSA—have many characteristics of a tribunal which is subject to judicial review. I note, however, what was said by the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, about no recommendations being made; I appreciate that that could improve the position. Despite that, this is still a very delicate situation. The fact that, at such a late stage, it was thought right to make that change indicates the danger to which I am referring. There is, therefore, a real risk that the system being introduced by the Bill will inadvertently make the activities of those bodies subject to review by the courts. The courts in this way will be drawn into adjudicating upon what has been happening in Parliament. Generally this is undesirable, but it is particularly undesirable because, in those proceedings, questions of parliamentary privilege could well arise. The danger of this happening should be avoided, unless there is no alternative. However, Clause 6(3) provides that, for the purposes of investigation, a Member of the other place must—and I emphasise the word "must"—provide the commissioner with any information he reasonably requires. I suggest that could be a recipe for conflict which could end in the courts. One way that the danger could be reduced—