Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Ethics and Integrity Commission

Thursday 25 July 2024 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government committed to establishing an independent ethics and integrity commission.
  • Terms of reference for the commission are yet to be fully detailed.
  • Commission aims to restore confidence and ensure high standards in public life.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Debbie Abrahams Lab Oldham East and Saddleworth
Standards & Ethics
Context

The government promised an ethics and integrity commission to restore public confidence. No specific progress had been announced.

Question

What progress the Government has made on establishing an ethics and integrity commission?

Answer from Pat McFadden

It is important to restore confidence in Government and public life, and to ensure the best possible standards. This was an important manifesto commitment. We will establish a new independent ethics and integrity commission, with its own independent chair, to ensure the highest possible standards. Work has begun on that, and I will keep the House up to date as it develops.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific terms of reference and timeline were not provided.

How: Show, Not Tell

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Q2 Debbie Abrahams Lab Oldham East and Saddleworth
Democracy & Elections
Context

The government had promised an ethics and integrity commission to restore public confidence. Specific details on its terms of reference were lacking.

Question

I thank my right hon. Friend for his response and welcome all the team to their places. Will he expand a little bit more on exactly what the terms of reference might include? For example, will they also include participative and deliberative democracy methods that might also help to restore trust in politics, which, as he knows, is at an all-time low?

Answer from Pat McFadden

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I will certainly keep her up to date with this as it goes. In truth, this is always going to be about “show, not tell”. We will set up the best system that we can with the new commission. On that front, the Leader of the House, my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) is taking immediate action to tighten the existing prohibition on MPs providing paid parliamentary advice. The House will be debating that later today. We are also setting up a modernisation committee.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific terms of reference were not provided, and the response focused more on procedural actions rather than the commission's terms of reference.

How: Show, Not Tell

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