Call for Evidence

The House of Lords Conduct Committee is launching a review of the Code of Conduct for Members and the Guide to the Code of Conduct.

1. Background

The Code was adopted in 2009, following a review by the Leader’s Group on the Code of Conduct, and the Guide was agreed the following year. Although they have been much amended and expanded, there has been no comprehensive review since 2009.

2. Aims of the review

The Code and Guide have served the House well, and the Conduct Committee will take the current level of regulation of members’ conduct as its starting point. But this review will be a chance to shorten and clarify the Code and Guide where possible, to reflect on how their presentation could be improved, both for members and the public, and to consider whether any other changes are needed, in the light of developments over the past 15 years.

In undertaking its review, the Committee will seek to promote the key objective in paragraph 3 of the Code of reinforcing public confidence in the House of Lords. In so doing, the Committee will also seek to further the other objective of providing clear guidance to members on the standards of conduct expected of them. It will, where possible, aim to provide greater clarity for those administering the Code.

The Committee will also consider the Code of Conduct for Members’ Staff, much of which replicates the Code of Conduct for Members.

This is a public call for written evidence to be submitted to the Committee. The deadline is midday on Monday 17 June 2024.

3. Questions

The Committee invites written submissions, focusing on the following questions:

• Are any elements of the Code and Guide unclear or confusing? If so, how can they be clarified?

• Are any provisions of the Code or Guide unnecessary?

• Do any of the rules for members’ conduct need to be updated, in line with wider developments since 2009?

• Are there any gaps or omissions in the Code and Guide? In particular, should there be a rule covering behaviour by members that causes significant reputational damage to the House as a whole? If so, how would this relate to the existing rule that members “should act always on their personal honour”?

• How can the presentation of the Code and Guide be improved, to make it more accessible and user-friendly?

• Are there any other issues, not covered in these questions, that you would like to raise?

If you have difficulty making a written submission on the online portal for any reason, you may contact us in a number of ways:

Guidelines for written evidence

If you have difficulty making a written submission on the online portal for any reason, you may contact us in a number of ways:

• Via email: lordsconduct@parliament.uk
• Via post: Clerk to the Conduct Committee, Journal Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW

Short, concise submissions are preferred, and submissions longer than 6 pages should include a one-page summary. Please ensure the submission is free of logos and signatures. Paragraphs should be numbered, and submissions should be dated.

Submissions should make a note of the author’s name, and of whether the author is acting in an individual or corporate capacity.

In the interests of transparency, those submitting written evidence may wish to declare within their evidence any interests they deem relevant to the work of the Committee and its review.

You should be careful not to comment on individual cases currently before a court of law or matters in respect of which court proceedings are imminent. If you anticipate such issues arising, you should discuss with the Clerk to the Committee via email how this might affect your submission.

The Committee cannot accept anything that has not been prepared specifically in response to this call for evidence, or that has been published elsewhere.   

Accepting evidence

The Committee itself will decide whether to accept submissions as evidence: any submissions accepted as evidence become protected by parliamentary privilege. You may publish your submission independently, but if you do so you should be aware that you may be legally responsible for its content.

Publication

Written evidence accepted by the Committee will not automatically be published online, but the Committee will publish in its final report a full list of the names of those submitting evidence, and it may decide to publish from that evidence. Before any evidence is published, Committee staff will notify the individual or organisation who authored it, to give them an opportunity to request redactions and/or anonymity.

Any evidence that is published will be subject to parliamentary copyright. All evidence that is accepted by the Committee will ultimately be deposited in the Parliamentary Archives.