Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, with the leave of the House, it has been suggested that I should rise at this stage to respond to the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin. I shall then give the House an opportunity to debate the issues more fully and, if necessary, your Lordships can be wearied by me again in response. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to respond to the request made in Committee that I should attend today. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, among other noble Lords opposite, asked in particular that I provide an assurance that the constitutional relationship between Parliament and the courts will not be adversely affected by the Bill. My views have also been sought on the criminal offence in Clause 8(1), the need for and effect of which have both been rigorously probed by eminent lawyers in this House during debate. In response to that invitation and with the House’s agreement, I shall take a little time so that I can read into the record the matters that I have already referred to in my letter. I was not able to attend earlier proceedings on the Bill and therefore I assure the House that I have carefully read the Official Report. As ever, I was greatly impressed by the care and concern that this House has shown in examining the Bill and subjecting it to the closest and most intelligent scrutiny. I hope to be able to provide your Lordships with the assurance that they seek. Today, as the noble Lord indicated, I have written to all those who took part in the debate on the Bill and have made copies of that letter available in the Printed Paper Office. I apologise to anyone who has not yet had sight of it but I assure the House that it was done as speedily as humanly possible. I do not intend to repeat the contents of the letter now but I shall, with your Lordships’ indulgence, explain as briefly as I can why I believe that the proper concerns that have been raised can be answered. The Bill has been amended substantially during its progress through the other place and the proceedings so far in this House. I shall not enumerate here all the changes that have been made but I think I may fairly say that the version that remains is less ambitious in its aims. Serious concerns were raised that the Bill, which might affect freedom of speech in Parliament and the relationship between Parliament and the courts, could not properly be considered in the time available before the Summer Recess. It is, however, genuinely urgent that the payment of expenses and allowances and the rules relating to financial interests for Members of the other place are put on a transparent and independent statutory footing. I assure the House that the Bill does not now affect the privileges of this House or the other place, or the operation of Article IX of the Bill of Rights 1689; nor does it enable the courts to question proceedings in Parliament. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority will be charged with establishing a new scheme for allowances and for drawing up a code of financial conduct, which will govern the rules relating to the registration of financial interests and paid advocacy. It will be responsible for paying salaries and allowances and for maintaining the register of interests. It will also determine the procedures for investigations by the independent Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations, who will be charged with investigating alleged breaches of the allowance scheme and failures to register financial interests. However, the authority will have no role in enforcing the scheme or the code or in investigating the actions of individual MPs. It will, as a statutory rule-making body, potentially be subject to judicial review, just as Ministers are subject to the court’s jurisdiction when making rules. There is, in my respectful submission, nothing to fear from that. Were the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to make rules that were irrational or that failed to take account of relevant matters, it is right that it should potentially be subject to review by the Administrative Court. The new statutory Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations, established under the Bill, will be able to investigate alleged breaches of the allowances scheme or of the code of financial conduct as far as they relate to the registration of interests and within the framework set up by IPSA. He or she will be empowered to agree the terms on which the overpayments of allowances and minor or inadvertent breaches of the registration rules can be settled. In more serious cases, findings may be referred to the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges. The new commissioner will have no jurisdiction to investigate allegations of paid advocacy or failures to declare interests in debate, which will remain, as now, matters for the House. Like the authority, the new commissioner is likely to be regarded by the courts as a statutory body, subject to the normal principles of administrative law and judicial review. I suggest that there is nothing for Parliament to fear from that either. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and the commissioner are deliberately being set up as bodies independent of Parliament. Although their functions are of great concern to parliamentarians, payments of allowances and registration of financial interests are not matters of privilege and do not entail questioning of proceedings in Parliament. Any decisions on sanctions to be imposed on individual Members of Parliament will, as now, be for the Committee on Standards and Privileges. That committee is a committee of the House of Commons set up under the rules of the House and answerable to the House. The Bill does not affect in any way the committee’s status; its proceedings are recognised as proceedings in Parliament and, therefore, are immune to questioning in the courts by virtue of Article IX of the Bill of Rights 1689. If further assurance is needed, that fact is underlined by what is now Clause 1 of the Bill. I do not think that the Bill has implications for the relationship between Parliament and the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights.