Commissioner's response to IEP report - Mr Keith Vaz

I am grateful to the Independent Expert Panel for their latest report. I remain committed to ensuring that the investigations under my oversight, and my subsequent decisions, are independent, impartial, thorough and fair.

Kathryn Stone OBE
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

Notes for Editors

1. The current framework for Parliamentary Standards dates from 1995, when the first Commissioner was appointed. Kathryn Stone OBE is the sixth Commissioner. She was appointed for five years with effect from 1 January 2018. The appointment is not renewable.

2. The Commissioner's main duties are:

• to maintain the Register of Members' Financial Interests and the other registers of interests for Members' staff, journalists and All-Party Groups;
• to provide advice confidentially on matters relating to the registration and declaration of interests;
• to advise the Committee on Standards on the interpretation of the Code of Conduct;
• to monitor the operation of the Code of Conduct and registers and to make recommendations to the Committee thereon;
• to investigate, if she thinks fit, specific matters which have come to her attention relating to the conduct of Members and to report on them to the Committee on Standards.
• to consider cases arising under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

• the Commissioner's remit was extended on 19 July 2018 to allow her to oversee investigations and make findings in cases against MPs under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).

Details of the ICGS scheme can be found here.

Details of the Independent Expert Panel can be found here.