Corruption (Hansard, 31 July 1998)

§ Mr. Straw

As a Government, we are committed to ensuring high standards in both public and private life. On 9 June last year, I published a consultation document on the reform of the corruption statutes entitled "The Prevention of Corruption: Consolidation and Amendment of the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889–1916: A Government Statement", a copy of which is in the Library. This had been preceded in December 1996 by the publication of the Home Office discussion document "Clarification of the Law Relating to the Bribery of Members of Parliament", an issue on which the Committee on Standards in Public Life had earlier reported. In November last, the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege embarked on its current inquiry into Parliamentary Privilege, including the law of corruption as it relates to hon. Members: and in March, the Law Commission for England and Wales helpfully published its proposals in its report No. 248: "Legislating the Criminal Code: Corruption". We are also committed to supporting and giving effect to international efforts through the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to deal with international aspects of corruption, including implementing the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. These domestic and international initiatives taken together provide us with a sound basis on which to review and modernise the law of corruption.

Although we are still awaiting the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege we have (as I announced on 24 June 1998, Official Report, 850W column 520) set up two inter-departmental groups to examine (i) the Law Commission's Report on Corruption and (ii) the possibility of a new statutory offence of misuse of public office. It is clear from the many representations received that there is much to support the Law Commission's recommendations for the common law of bribery and the present statutory offences of corruption to be restated in a modern statute, with a clear definition of what is meant by acting in a corrupt manner. At this stage, we also accept, in principle, the Law Commission's proposal that there should be a single offence of corruption to cover both public and private sectors. This reflects the reality that some functions which would, in the past, have been carried out by the public sector are now carried out by public/private partnerships or in the private sector. It also reflects the importance of ensuring equally high standards of probity in all aspects of life, whether in the public or the private sector. The inter-departmental working group on corruption expects to complete its work by the end of the year. When it has done so, I propose to publish a paper setting out the Government's detailed proposals for the consolidation and amendment of the law on corruption. When available, I will also take into account the views of the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege.

The level of response to the consultation paper about a possible new offence of misuse of public office and the quality of replies demonstrates the importance of, and interest in, public probity. The Committee on Standards in Public Life in its third report recommended that all holders of public office should be covered equally by a statutory offence of misuse of public office, which enables action to be taken against them in the event of misconduct which is serious, but does not entail bribery and corruption. This is a complex area. The inter-departmental working group set up to consider the recommendation by the Committee on Standards in Public Life in this area, with the assistance of the Criminal Law Commissioner as recommended by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, is looking carefully at the inter-relationship between any new offence, existing offences, civil remedies and disciplinary codes. It is also taking into account proposals being developed by my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on the establishment of a new Standards Board for local government and the creation of a new code of conduct for local councillors. As with corruption, this interdepartmental working group also expects to complete its work by the end of the year.