Standards

Lucy Powell Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Lucy Powell)]

I beg to move,

That this House approves the Third Report of the Committee on Standards, Session 2024–25, HC 943, on Register of Interests of Members’ Staff, subject to any transitional arrangements agreed by the Committee on Standards, and amends the provisions endorsed by the Resolution of the House of 28 June 1993 as follows:

Members’ staff who hold a permanent photo-identity pass or have been granted a Parliamentary network account are required to register in the Register of Interests of Members’ Staff, subject to the thresholds set out in that Register:

“Any occupation or employment for which they receive over £470 from the same source in the course of a calendar year, if that occupation or employment is in any way advantaged by the privileged access to Parliament afforded by either a photo-identity pass or a Parliamentary Network Account;

Any gift (eg jewellery) or benefit (eg hospitality, services) they receive, if the gift or benefit in any way relates to or arises from their work in Parliament and its value exceeds £470 in the course of a calendar year; and/or

Any visit undertaken that has been paid for by a third party, if it in any way relates to or arises from their work in Parliament.”

The motion before us, which stands in my name, is moved on behalf of the Committee on Standards and relates to the Register of Interests of Members’ Staff. I welcome the Committee’s consideration of this matter and its report. If approved, the motion would widen the boundaries of who has to register their interests in the Register of Interests of Members’ Staff to include all those who have a parliamentary network account, as opposed to the current position, under which only staff who hold a photo-identity pass for the estate need to register their interests.

The Committee’s report, which is available to the House, outlines that the intention behind this expansion of the register is to reflect current working practices. There has been a significant increase in the number of staff who have full access to parliamentary information and materials without needing to be present on the estate. As the Committee’s report has outlined, that has resulted in more than half the staff employed by Members not being required to make a transparency return. I am grateful to the Chair of the Committee, the hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), and to its members for all their hard work on this matter.

I know that the Chair will want to contribute to this debate to outline some of the background to the Committee’s work, and how it intends to implement this measure should the House approve it today. I can assure the House that the intention is to provide time for the Committee to make any transitional and technical arrangements necessary for the introduction of the change, and that details will be provided to all Members and staff. On that basis, I commend the motion to the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Leader of the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the Chair of the Standards Committee for explaining the background to the report. I have given him this commitment, both privately and publicly: I am keen to bring the recommendations of Standards Committee reports to the Floor of the House as soon as possible, and I hope that I have shown willing by doing that so quickly on this occasion. I also thank the hon. Gentleman for his reassurance to the shadow Leader of the House and to the trade unions—particularly Unite—which I know fully support the principles of this measure and the intention behind it, although I think that, as the shadow Leader said, there are some concerns about the creation of an entire register for staff members with nil returns that could perhaps be “farmed” by those trying to lobby people and gain access to them, with their names and email addresses out there for public view.

I look forward to the hon. Gentleman consulting and working with the unions in the coming weeks on how this can be delivered. If any changes are necessary, my door, as ever, will be open. I thank him and the whole Committee, and I thank the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for all his work with the Committee on this issue and many others.

Question put and agreed to.