Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Michael Ellis Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2016 General Committees

[The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Michael Ellis)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the motion, That, in pursuance of paragraph 2A of Schedule 3 of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, Mr Shrinivas Honap be appointed as a lay member of the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority for a period of five years from 27 January 2017 to 26 January 2022.

The motion, which is in the name of my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, seeks the appointment of a new lay member to the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. SCIPSA is not a conventional committee of this House: it is a statutory committee and its establishment, role and membership are determined by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, as amended by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. The Committee has two key responsibilities: to consider the candidates proposed by the Speaker, following fair and open competition, for the posts of chair and members of IPSA, and to approve IPSA’s annual estimate of resources. The legislation sets out the membership of the Committee, which comprises the Speaker, the Leader of the House and the Chair of the Standards Committee by virtue of their offices, five Back-Bench Members and three lay members.

The appointment of lay members to the Speaker’s Committee was recommended by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, in its report on Members’ expenses and allowances in November 2009. It recommended that three lay members, with full voting rights, should be added to the Speaker’s Committee to bring an external view and to provide greater transparency and independence in the exercise of its statutory functions. The recommendation was implemented by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act.

The motion seeks to appoint Mr Shrinivas Honap as a lay member to succeed Professor Monojit Chatterji. Professor Chatterji has served the Committee and the House diligently and I know that Mr Speaker and the other members of the SCIPSA would wish me to place on the record their gratitude for his advice and dedication to the work of the Speaker’s Committee. Professor Chatterji’s period of appointment ends on 26 January and the motion therefore seeks the House’s approval for the appointment of Mr Honap to the Committee from that date for a period of five years. The periods of lay members’ appointment to the Committee are staggered to ensure a degree of continuity in the lay membership. Under the legislation the lay members may not be reappointed.

The candidate named in the motion, Mr Shrinivas Honap, resulted from a fair and open recruitment competition as required by statute. At the Speaker’s request, the recruitment panel was chaired by the Clerk Assistant, Dr John Benger. The other panel members were the right hon. Baroness Primarolo; Richard McKenna, chief executive of Inclusive Employers; and Jenny Winter, head of human resources at the House of Commons service. The board was assisted by a specialist recruitment agency to ensure a wide and diverse range of candidates applied for the role. The recruitment process involved stages of advertisement, longlisting, shortlisting and interview.

Mr Honap has had a successful career in the private sector, including holding a number of senior positions at Vodafone. Since leaving the private sector, he has taken on a number of non-executive roles including with South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the British Transport police.

The statute requires that the motion is tabled with the agreement of the Speaker, and I can formally confirm that Mr Speaker has signified his consent. I am happy also to assure hon. Members that the competition met the requirements of the statute. I hope that the Committee, and ultimately the House, will support Mr Honap’s appointment.