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The Committee on Standards yesterday published a report putting in the public domain the text of new protocols drawn up between the Committee and the police and between the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the police, replacing a single protocol between the three parties which had been in force since 2013.

• Read the report: The House of Commons and the criminal law: protocols between the police and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Committee on Standards
• Read the report: The House of Commons and the criminal law: protocols between the police and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Committee on Standards (PDF 157 KB)
• Committee on Standards

Since 2008 there has been a formal statement of agreement between the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, the Committee on Standards (prior to 2013, the Committee on Standards and Privileges) and the Metropolitan Police Service, relating to the handling of complaints against Members of Parliament which might also raise questions of criminal liability.

The aim has been to ensure that there should be no misunderstanding between the House and the police on their respective role in these circumstances, that any arrangements work effectively in the public interest, and that the administration of justice is not impeded by actions taken by the Committee or the Commissioner.

In 2013 the arrangements were codified in a protocol between the three parties which was published as an appendix to a report by the Committee.

In January 2019 the House agreed to a number of changes, recommended by the Committee in a report issued in November 2018 report, aimed at strengthening the operational independence of the Commissioner. These included the removal of a previous requirement that the Commissioner should consult the Committee before referring a case to the police on grounds of suspected criminality.

The 2018 report stated that the Committee was considering the option of replacing the 2013 trilateral protocol between itself, the Commissioner and the police with two bilateral protocols (Commissioner/police and Committee/police), the better to assert the Commissioner’s independence from the Committee.

The Committee, the Commissioner and the police have discussed this matter and have now agreed two separate protocols as envisaged in the 2018 report. The protocols are now in force and are set out as appendices to the present report. Other than in reflecting the House’s decisions in January 2019, the new protocols do not reflect any substantive changes in the relationships between the police and the Commissioner and Committee.

The report draws attention to one respect in which the text of the new protocols will need to be interpreted in the light of the recent decision by the House to create an Independent Expert Panel (IEP) to hear cases referred to it by the Commissioner, and appeals, under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme. Responsibility for such cases and appeals has been removed from the Committee. References in the protocols to the former role of the Committee in this regard should therefore be interpreted as references to the role of the IEP.

The report was agreed unanimously. The lay members of the Committee, who have full voting rights on the Committee, played a full and active part in drawing up the Committee’s report, with which they are in agreement.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees