Supplementary written evidence from Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (LAN0025)                                                                                                                                           

Thank you for inviting the ICGS to give oral evidence to the Committee as part of its review into the House of Commons standards landscape.

During the oral evidence session, I promised to provide more information to the Committee on three points.

First, you asked about the use of deadlines during investigations. We do use deadlines for certain aspects of the process and agree they can be very helpful when appropriate to do so. The ICGS is unique within the standards landscape in being a complainant-led service: there must always be an aggrieved party for an investigation to take place. It is therefore important that investigations are trauma-informed, recognising that complainants may have had very difficult experiences which have led them to make a complaint and that respondents may find it very difficult to cope with the allegations. Within this context, setting additional deadlines from the outset will not always be appropriate. Where deadlines are appropriate, these will normally be set on a case-by-case basis, reflecting that there will be many different types of information or evidence needed in an investigation (not always written responses). Where we are concerned that a party is not engaging appropriately with an investigation, or is delaying the process, we will of course impose deadlines for responses in order to ensure fairness to all parties. We are shortly to start work on developing measurable service user standards, and we will consider the use of time limits as part of that work, including where more use could be made of them to improve timeliness, and also where we can be clearer with service users about the timescales they can expect from us.

Second, you asked about concluding investigations to take account of the electoral cycle. I understand the issues you set out. We aim to complete every case as quickly as we can. I wanted to offer some reassurance that as we contract external investigators from a large pool, we do not normally need to prioritise one investigation over another. In practice many of the factors that determine how long a case takes lie outside our control (including, for example, the engagement of the parties and any witnesses). In cases involving MPs, the final outcome is only known once a decision has been made by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and any appeal on decision, and, where relevant, sanction, to the Independent Expert Panel has been concluded. Under the processes approved by the House, the ICGS team has no control over these parts of the Scheme, which operate independently.

Looking at the electoral cycle more specifically, as you are aware since the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, only the maximum length of a Parliament is fixed by law, and the date of dissolution would be expected to be determined by the Government of the day (potentially at short notice) which given the time taken for processes after our investigation has concluded would restrict the opportunity to complete processes and publication within an externally-fixed timescale. Lastly, we would be concerned that the ICGS taking a view on the desirability of finalising a case at a particular point in the electoral cycle, and seeking to manage investigations accordingly, could be perceived as politicisation of the Scheme.

Third, you asked for a copy of our current oversight agreement with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. I attach a copy. The agreement is also published on our webpages.[1] The ICGS team and the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards are currently in the process of updating the oversight agreement. We will notify the Committee when this is finalised and provide you with an updated copy.

We remain happy to provide the Committee with any further information needed to assist with its inquiry.

Thea Walton

Director of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme

January 2024