Committee to hear evidence from Westminster Abbey Institute and trade unions in Code of Conduct inquiry

• Watch the session on Parliament TV
• Inquiry: Code of Conduct
• Committee on Standards

Multi-stage review process

The evidence from both panels will contribute towards the first stage of a multi-stage review process, announced in September this year, in preparing a new text of the Code of Conduct, and the associated Guide to the Rules, for approval by the House.

The stages of the review process will include:

• The public evidence sessions which will contribute to the Committee on Standards report
  
  
• When the Committee publishes its report, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards will take up her own review of the Code
  
  
• This process will be followed by a public consultation on a revised text of the Code
  
  
• The Standards Committee will then propose a final revised text for recommendation to the House
  
  
• The review process will also incorporate consideration of possible changes to the Guide to the Rules which will also need to be put before the House for its approval.

The most recent review of the Code was completed in 2015. For various reasons it was not possible to complete a review of the Code in the two recent short Parliaments, those of 2015-17 and 2017-19. However, the previous Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, and subsequently an informal sub-committee of the Standards Committee both carried out valuable work which the present inquiry will take fully into account.

Witnesses

Tuesday 2 March 2021

At 9.30am:

• Dr Claire Foster-Gilbert, Director, Westminster Abbey Institute

At 10.30am:

• Ken Gall, President, Trade Union Side, House of Commons
  
  
• Amy Leversidge, Assistant General Secretary, FDA, House of Commons

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: Catherine Bebbington/Parliamentary Copyright