Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2016 General Committees

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Crausby. I apologise for being late, first, because it is my birthday and there were too many candles, and secondly, because there was a huge amount of traffic in Parliament Square—a matter that I will take up with the Mayor of London. I got here as soon as I could.

I thank the Deputy Leader of the House for his comments about the outgoing member of SCIPSA, Professor Monojit Chatterji, and the work that he has done. Having taken the opportunity to look at the background of the nominee, we have no issue with his appointment. Mr Honap has extensive experience in the public sector, although I note that he was at the South Staffordshire trust only for a short time. I hope that he has not been put off the public sector. Parliament has different kinds of problems—as indeed does the private sector. We do things differently, and we hope that all Mr Honap’s experience will be brought to bear on understanding how special this place and the people who work here are. On that basis, the Opposition support the motion.

Question put and agreed to.