House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Former Members sentenced to imprisonment Sixteenth Report of Session 2010–12 Report and Appendix, together with formal minutes Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 14 June 2011 HC 1215 Published on 15 June 2011 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Committee on Standards and Privileges The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in the Code of Conduct which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to the Code of Conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary. Current membership Rt hon Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) (Chair) Sir Paul Beresford MP (Conservative, Mole Valley) Tom Blenkinsop MP (Labour, Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland) Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole) Rt hon Tom Clarke MP (Labour, Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) Mr Geoffrey Cox MP (Conservative, Torridge and West Devon) Matthew Hancock MP (Conservative, West Suffolk) Oliver Heald MP (Conservative, North East Hertfordshire) Heather Wheeler MP (Conservative, South Derbyshire) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) Powers The constitution and powers of the Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149. In particular, the Committee has power to order the attendance of any Member of Parliament before the Committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers, if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in the Committee’s proceedings, but may not vote. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at: www.parliament.uk/sandp. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Eve Samson (Clerk), Richard Kelly (Second Clerk) and Miss Christine McGrane (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615. Former Members sentenced to imprisonment 1 Contents Report Page Background 3 Inquiries into former members now convicted 3 Passes of former Members convicted 3 Resettlement Grants 4 Future sanctions 5 Appendix: announcements relating to former Members 6 Mr David Chaytor 6 Mr Jim Devine 6 Mr Elliot Morley 7 Formal Minutes 8 Former Members sentenced to imprisonment 3 Report Background 1. The House of Commons’ system for investigating alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct and imposing sanctions for any such breaches is disciplinary in nature. It is not, and does not purport to be, a substitute for criminal proceedings. There can however be an overlap between actions which are breaches of the Code, and the subject of complaints, and criminal behaviour. Other than in the limited context of participation in proceedings in Parliament, the position of a Member of Parliament is no different in respect of alleged criminal behaviour than that of any other person. Decisions about criminal investigations and prosecutions are matters for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. A predecessor Committee discussed the handling of complaints against Members which might also raise questions of criminal liability, and reported on the arrangements for liaison between the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, the police and the Committee in April 2008.1 Those arrangements were intended to ensure that the Committee did not inadvertently prejudice criminal proceedings. Inquiries into former members now convicted 2. In the last Parliament a number of individuals were the subject of police investigations. Mr David Chaytor, Mr Eric Illsley, Mr Jim Devine and Mr Elliot Morley have now been convicted on charges relating to their expense claims. Three of these, Mr Chaytor, Mr Devine, and Mr Morley were under investigation by the Commissioner. 3. We have already announced that we have agreed to the Commissioner’s proposals that he should close his inquiries into Mr Chaytor and Mr Devine. The Commissioner has also proposed that he should close his inquiry into Mr Morley. We agree. The announcements made on each decision are set out in the Appendix to this Report. Passes of former Members convicted 4. When we announced that our agreement that the investigation into Mr Chaytor’s conduct should be closed, we added: the Chair of the Committee, Kevin Barron MP, has written to Sir Alan Haselhurst MP, the Chair of the Administration Committee, inviting it to consider whether the rules relating to passes for former Members should be amended, to disqualify automatically any former Member who has been convicted of a criminal offence and has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment.2 Sir Alan has now responded: 1 Standards and Privileges Committee, Eight Report of Session 2007–08, The Complaints System and the Criminal Law, HC 523 2 See Appendix 4 Former Members sentenced to imprisonment The Committee recommended on 24 April that the following paragraph be included in the rules operated by the Serjeant at Arms: “Former Members’ passes should not be provided to any Member convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a period of imprisonment of one year or more.” Mr Speaker has accepted that recommendation, and I have accordingly asked the Serjeant to incorporate that passage within the rules. This decision means that Mr Chaytor, Mr Devine, Mr Illsley and Mr Morley will not be entitled to passes. 5. Section 1 of the Representation of the People Act 19813 provides: A person found guilty of one or more offences (whether before or after the passing of this Act and whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere), and sentenced or ordered to be imprisoned or detained indefinitely or for more than one year, shall be disqualified for membership of the House of Commons while detained anywhere in the British Islands or the Republic of Ireland in pursuance of the sentence or order or while unlawfully at large at a time when he would otherwise be so detained. 6. The change to the rules means that the House’s rules on the terms of access to the precincts for former Members are slightly different from the rules relating to disqualification of sitting Members convicted of an offence. This is appropriate: a judge sentencing a Member of Parliament will be alert to the terms of the Representation of the People Act 1981, and take into account that automatic expulsion depends on a sentence of more than a year. The House can take its own decision if a sentence of less than a year is given, and the Member concerned does not resign voluntarily. 7. Access to the precincts, and the terms on which such access is granted, is and should be, purely a matter for the House; there is no statutory provision relating to such access. Any such provision would be inappropriate, since it would limit the House’s control over its own precincts. Given that sentencing guidelines are written in terms of “12 months” imprisonment, reproducing the statutory requirement exactly when considering the provision of ex-Members’ passes could result in former Members found guilty of wrongdoing serious enough to merit a significant custodial sentence retaining their entitlement to a pass unless the House took further action. We do not believe this is right. Resettlement Grants 8. Until the most recent general election, the House of Commons had a system of resettlement grants for those Members who retired at dissolution, or were not returned at the subsequent election.4 Since the IPSA expenses scheme came into operation on 7 May 2010 there has been no provision for resettlement grants. IPSA has announced: 3 1981, c 34 4 CJ (1990–91), Members Estimate Committee, Third Report of Session 2007–08, Review of Allowances, HC 578–I, paras 235–238 Former Members sentenced to imprisonment 5 Given its integral link to MPs’ pay and pensions, IPSA does not believe it can properly consider the issue of whether there should be a resettlement grant or how it should be formulated as a separate issue. IPSA will not, therefore, introduce an interim measure but will consider the issue as part of its planned review of MPs’ pay and pensions once the legal responsibility for those matters passes to IPSA.5 9. On 8 February 2010 the Members Estimates Committee6 agreed that “Mr Speaker should instruct the Accounting Officer for the Members Estimate that Resettlement Grant should be withheld from any Member charged with an offence relating to Members’ allowances until the conclusion of any criminal proceedings”;7 on 29 March 2011 it further agreed “that Resettlement Grant should not be paid to any former Member convicted of an offence of dishonesty relating to Members’ allowances.”8 Future sanctions 10. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is charged with the responsibility for conducting inquiries.