Call for written evidence

CALL FOR EVIDENCE

Call for evidence

The Green Paper on Parliamentary Privilege was published on 26 April 2012 (Cm 8318). In it the Government set out a number of draft clauses and asked a number of detailed questions about privilege.  The topics covered included:
• The case for the codification of Parliamentary Privilege
• Parliamentary freedom of speech
• Exclusive cognisance (each House of Parliament’s control of its own precincts and proceedings)
• Parliamentary standards
• Reporting of Parliamentary proceedings
The Government consultation closed on 30 September 2012.

The Committee will draw on the responses to the Government consultation in its work, but would welcome any additional evidence on the questions posed by the Government or the draft clauses published in the Green Paper.

The provisional deadline for submissions is Thursday 24 January 2013 after which date the Committee will consider whom to call to give oral evidence to the inquiry. The Committee will, however, consider accepting written submissions received after this date.

Submissions of over 10 pages in length should be prefaced with a summary.

Evidence should be sent in as a Word document (electronically) to: JCPP@parliament.uk. Hard copies may be addressed to: The Clerk, Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege, Journal Office, House of Commons, London, SW1 0AA.

Personal contact details supplied to the Committee will be removed from submissions before publication but will be retained by the Committee staff for specific purposes relating to the Committee’s work, such as seeking additional information.

Submissions become the property of the Committee which will decide whether to accept them as evidence. Evidence may be published by the Committee at any stage. It will normally appear on the Committee’s website and will be deposited in the Parliamentary Archives. Once you have received acknowledgement that your submission has been accepted as evidence, you may publicise or publish it yourself, but in doing so you must indicate that it was prepared for the Committee. If you publish your evidence separately, you should be aware that you will be legally responsible for its content.

You should be careful not to comment on individual cases currently before a court of law, or matters in respect of which court proceedings are imminent. If you anticipate such issues arising, you should discuss with the Clerk of the Committee how this might affect your submission.

Certain individuals and organisations may be invited to appear in person before the Committee to give oral evidence. Oral evidence is usually given in public at Westminster and broadcast in audio and online. Persons invited to give oral evidence will be notified separately of the procedure to be followed and the topics likely to be discussed.

Substantive communications to the Committee about the inquiry should be addressed through the Clerk or the Chairman of the Committee, whether or not they are intended to constitute formal evidence to the Committee.

This is a public call for evidence. Please bring it to the attention of other groups and individuals who may not have received a copy direct.