House of Commons Committee on Standards All-Party Parliamentary Groups Sixth Report of Session 2013–14 HC 357 House of Commons Committee on Standards All-Party Parliamentary Groups Sixth Report of Session 2013–14 Volume I: Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Additional written evidence is contained in Volume II, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/Standards Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 19 November 2013 HC 357 Published on 29 November 2013 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £15.50 The Committee on Standards The Committee on Standards 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) Mr Robert Buckland MP (Conservative, South Swindon) Rt Hon Tom Clarke MP (Labour, Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) Mr Christopher Chope MP (Conservative, Christchurch) Mr Geoffrey Cox MP (Conservative, Torridge and West Devon) Sharon Darcy (Lay Member) Sir Nick Harvey MP (Liberal Democrat, North Devon) Mr Peter Jinman (Lay Member) Fiona O’Donnell MP (Labour, East Lothian) Mr Walter Rader (Lay Member) Heather Wheeler MP (Conservative, South Derbyshire) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) The following were also Members of the Committee during the Parliament: Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole) 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/standards. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Eve Samson (Clerk), Danielle Nash (Second Clerk) and Miss Christine McGrane (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615. All-Party Parliamentary Groups 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 Background to this inquiry 5 2 The role of APPGs 7 Current regulation 8 Lobbying and Influence 12 Financial support 14 Conclusion 17 3 A revised regulatory regime 18 General approach 18 Key Principles 18 Refining the rules 20 Access to the Parliamentary Estate 21 Abolition of Associate APPGs 22 Criteria for registration 23 Meetings 23 APPG finances 24 Current rules 24 Proposals for change 24 Improving the provision of information 26 The All-Party whip 29 APPGs and select committees 29 The Crowned Portcullis 30 Identifying unregistered groups 31 Reporting 32 Enforcement 32 Administration Committee recommendations 33 Conclusion 34 Implementation 34 Timetable for implementation 35 Decisions for the House 36 Conclusions and recommendations 37 Annex 1: Proposed Rules for APPGs 43 Annex 2: Committee’s questionnaire 46 Appendix 1: Letter from the Committee on Standards and Privileges to Mr Speaker, dated 3 December 2012 49 Appendix 2: Consolidated Resolution relating to APPGs 52 2 All-Party Parliamentary Groups Formal Minutes 54 Witnesses 55 List of printed written evidence 55 List of additional written evidence 56 All-Party Parliamentary Groups 3 Summary All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) are groups of Members, from both Houses, who may or may not be supported by outside organisations, and are established for a wide range of purposes. They range from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hockey, whose purpose is to promote and play hockey, and which has no external support or staff, to the British American Parliamentary Group, which receives £99,000 per annum provided jointly by the House of Commons Commission and the House Committee of the House of Lords. There is a Register of such groups, overseen by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards which is available on the internet. There has been increasing concern that APPGs pose a reputational risk to the House in several ways: they may provide access for lobbyists; they put pressure on resources; and their output is confused with that of official select committees. All these concerns are valid, but APPGs also provide: a forum for cross-party interaction which is not controlled by the whips; a forum for interaction between the Members of the Commons and the Lords; a forum for parliamentarians, academics, business people, the third sector and other interested parties; time and space for policy discussion and debate; and a means for back bench parliamentarians to set the policy agenda. There is a longstanding dilemma about the regulation of APPGs: they are essentially informal groupings, established by individual Members, yet the more restrictions and requirements that are placed on them, the more they appear to be endorsed by the House. Work of this sort would continue whether or not APPGs were regulated; there would simply be less transparency about it. We believe that this problem can only be resolved by ensuring the rules require appropriate transparency from APPGs, while giving groups of Members sufficient incentives to register and abide by the APPG rules. One incentive would be to ensure that groups which are not registered as APPGs, and so avoid the House’s requirements, should not benefit from the “brand of Parliament”. The House of Commons Commission has already decided to withdraw the passes of APPG staff and this is a significant step. We propose a package of further reforms. We have aimed to streamline regulation to ensure that Members’ responsibility for APPG activity is clear; that those responsible for APPGs can be held to account if necessary; that there is 4 All-Party Parliamentary Groups transparency not only about external support, but also about the activities funded by such support; and that there is far greater clarity about the status of the various types of informal work that Members carry out. (Please note: conclusions are in bold and recommendations are in bold italics.1) 1 Para 79, Liaison Committee, Third Report, Session 2012–13, Select committee effectiveness, resources and powers, HC 912 All-Party Parliamentary Groups 5 1 Introduction Background to this inquiry 1. This inquiry was prompted by the report of the Speakers’ Working Group on APGs2, which was set up in November 2011 by the Speakers of both Houses and which reported in June 2012.3 The Working Group report was intended to form the basis of more detailed work by committees and other bodies. Several parts of the House of Commons are involved in considering the ways in which APPGs operate and are regulated. The Committee on Standards makes recommendations on rules about registration and related matters; the Administration Committee has responsibility for advising on matters to do with passes, and access to and use of the precincts. In addition the House of Commons Commission has responsibility for ultimate decisions about passes and Mr Speaker for use of the Crowned Portcullis. 2. When the Working Group reported the Committee on Standards and Privileges decided it would not itself undertake a formal inquiry since it was clear at the time that the Committee would be split into a Committee of Privileges and a Committee on Standards with effect from January 2013. The division of the two committees was to allow the new Committee on Standards to contain three lay members, and it was felt that an inquiry into APPGs would benefit from the external perspective that those lay members would bring. Nonetheless, the Committee on Standards and Privileges discussed the Working Group’s conclusions and responded to them in a letter to the Speaker in December 2012.4 3. The new Committee on Standards began an inquiry into APPGs as soon as it was established. As both the Standards Committee and the Administration Committee have responsibilities in this area, the two Committees agreed to work together, sharing evidence and holding discussions between the Chairs as appropriate. As a first step a questionnaire from both Committees was sent to all APPGs on the Register to draw attention to the inquiry, and to make sure there was a foundation of evidence on which to draw. We took oral evidence from Members of the House, political consultants, charities, other groups involved in supporting APPGs, and from the campaign group Unlock Democracy. We are grateful to all those who gave oral or written evidence, or completed the Committees’ questionnaire. 4. In making this Report we have two aims.