UK Parliament — House of Commons

Order ID:236

All versions of this Order

Date Title Text
2022 — 30th November 149 Committee on Standards (1) There shall be a select committee, called the Committee on Standards-
(a) to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards except in relation to the conduct of individual cases under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members' Financial Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; and to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; and
(b) to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in any code of conduct to which the House has agreed and which have been drawn to the committee's attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to such code of conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary; and
(c) in accordance with Standing Order No. 150E (IEP recommendations for sanctions and the Recall of MPs Act 2015) to report to the House recommendations for sanctions to run concurrently with sanctions determined by a sub-panel of the IEP and implemented by the House.
(2) The committee shall consist of seven Members, and seven lay members.
(3) Unless the House otherwise orders, each Member nominated to the committee shall continue to be a member of it for the remainder of the Parliament.
(4) The committee shall have power to appoint sub-committees and to refer to such sub-committees any of the matters referred to the committee.
(5) Lay members may take part in proceedings of the committee and of any sub-committee to which they are appointed and may ask questions of witnesses, may move motions and amendments to motions or draft reports, and may vote.
(6) The quorum of the committee shall be three members who are Members of this House and three lay members, and the quorum of any sub-committee shall be three, of whom at least one shall be a Member of this House and at least one a lay member.
(7) The committee and any sub-committee shall have power-
(a) to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House and to adjourn from place to place;
(b) subject to the provisions of paragraph (8) of this order, to report from time to time;
(c) to appoint legal advisers, and to appoint specialist advisers either to supply information which is not readily available or to elucidate matters or complexity within the committee's order of reference.
(8) Any lay member present at a meeting at which a report has been agreed shall have the right to submit a paper setting out that lay member's opinion on the report. The Committee shall not consider a motion that the Chair make a report to the House until it has ascertained whether any lay member present wishes to submit such a paper; and any such paper shall be appended to the report in question before it is made to the House.
(9) The committee shall have power to order the attendance of any Member before the committee or any sub-committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of a sub-committee or of the Commissioner, be laid before the committee or any sub-committee.
(10) The committee, or any sub-committee, shall have power to refer to unreported evidence of former Committees on Standards and Privileges and of former Committees on Standards and to any documents circulated to any such committee.
(11) The committee shall have power to refuse to allow proceedings to which the public are admitted to be broadcast.
(12) The Attorney General, the Advocate General and the Solicitor General, being Members of the House, may attend the committee or any sub-committee, may take part in deliberations, may receive committee or sub-committee papers and may give such other assistance to the committee or sub-committee as may be appropriate, but shall not vote or make any motion or move any amendment or be counted in the quorum.
(13) The committee and any sub-committee shall have power to communicate its evidence and any other information in its possession to a sub-panel of the Independent Expert Panel in respect of a Code of Conduct case that has been appealed to the Panel.
(14) The Speaker shall put the questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on a motion to implement a sanction recommended by the Committee (or a sub-panel of the Independent Expert Panel where it recommends a sanction following an appeal) in respect of a Code of Conduct case forthwith; such a motion may be proceeded with until any hour, though opposed, and no Member shall be eligible to participate in any division on such a motion where it relates to their own conduct.