Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, when we debated the question of whether we should say that this Bill applied to your Lordships’ House, on the basis of an amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, I said that the Government were happy to accept the principle of the amendment with some exceptions. I undertook to return to the matter on Report. As I explained then, we were unable to accept the amendment as drafted because it was inaccurate in some minor respects. I explained that the Bill gives your Lordships a role in the administration of the new regime. I said, for example, that the chair and members of IPSA, and the commissioner, may be removed from office only following an address by Her Majesty to both Houses of Parliament. The accounts and annual report of IPSA must be laid before each House of Parliament. The amendment that I have now tabled gives effect to that undertaking. As well as the two points which I mentioned in Committee, there are a number of other references to your Lordships’ House in the Bill. The point on removal of the chair and members of IPSA and the commissioner is covered by the references to paragraphs 5(3) and (4) of Schedule 1 and paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 2. The point on the accounts and annual report of the IPSA having to be laid before each House of Parliament is covered by the references to paragraphs 24(2)(b) and 25(1) of Schedule 1, and paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 2. There are three new references to your Lordships’ House which also need to be covered. The first two are the references in paragraphs 16(2) and 22 of Schedule 1, which both refer to the expenditure of IPSA being funded by money provided by Parliament. The final amendment refers to the review clause which we inserted into the Bill in Committee. Under that clause, a statutory instrument to continue in existence the provisions of the Bill covered by that clause must be laid before each House of Parliament, and approved by a resolution of each. The small exceptions which are now included in this clause do not undermine the basic principle. As I made clear at Second Reading, and again in Committee, the Government entirely accept that this Bill does not apply to your Lordships’ House. That is self-evidently the case. We also accept that it should not be extended to your Lordships’ House as it is presently constituted. We obviously cannot in legislation put the latter point on the record, but we can put the first point on the record in the Bill and I am happy to do so. I beg to move.