Committee welcomes parity between lay members and MPs

The Committee on Standards welcomes today's decision by the House of Commons to restructure the Committee on Standards, to ensure parity between lay members and MPs. In the next Parliament, there will be seven lay members, and seven MPs. The Chair will be elected. Lay members have already had a significant impact. Indeed, the restructuring of the Committee was one of the recommendations coming from the Standards Review Sub-Committee, which was chaired by one of the lay members.

Chair's comments

The Chair of the Committee, Kevin Barron, said:

"It is not just that parity of lay members means still more independent input in disciplinary cases, a further improvement on the current system in which the investigation is carried out independently, and lay members already sit on the Committee. The presence of lay members challenges our assumptions about the way things are done in a constructive way. The Committee on Standards’ Report on the Standards System in the House of Commons contains recommendations not just about the structure of the Standards system, but about the way in which the leadership of the House should engage with these issues in future. I hope it will be the bedrock for further work in the current next Parliament."

The Committee is also publishing on line the reflections of the lay members on their second year. This was prepared before the announcement of today's debate, which addresses some of the issues they raise.The lay members welcome the fact that the House has taken the opportunity to debate the Committee's two reports. In debate today the Leader of the House said: "I am pleased that the Committee plans itself to take on a wider role in the promotion of ethical conduct of MPs, drawing on best professional practice and the experiences of other legislatures. The new lay members of the Committee, when they are appointed, will give this role added resonance and I think the House can look forward to its role developing further in the new Parliament."

The lay members consider that by adopting these measures the House has taken an important step to providing guidance to the Committee on Standards in the next Parliament. The next Parliament has the opportunity to build on the work of the Committee to ensure that a robust standards culture is embedded in all aspects of Parliamentary life.

• Lay members' reflections on their second year
• Press notice in PDF format