Committee on Standards in Public Life
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What the Committee does
The Committee on Standards in Public Life was established in 1994 to examine the standards of conduct of all holders of public office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements which might be required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life.
Relevant Inquiries and Reports
Below are a selection of the inquiries and reports published by the Committee that relate to the work of Charter 88 and the New Politics Network. For a complete full details of the Committee's work please see its website.
Annual Report 2007-2008
On 10th June the Committee released its annual report.
PERSISTING AREAS OF CONCERN
Vulnerability of electoral system The Committee strongly recommends the introduction of individual voter registration over the current household system. They support the Electoral Commissions view that household registration and postal voting have increased the likelihood of fraud. Whilst understanding the Government concerns over possible drops in registration, the Committee notes the success in Northern Ireland and that combating fraud should be the highest priority. They believe that the current safeguards are inadequate because in most cases the information supplied on completed electoral registration forms is taken at face value, and few checks are carried out at polling stations to verify a voter’s identity.
Party political funding Expressed their disappointment that the attempts brokered by Sir Hayden Phillips to bring about all-party agreement on much needed reforms to the system appear to have broken down. If the stalemate persists the Committee will look to intervene.
MPs’ pay and allowances Welcomed Parliament’s decision to instigate a root and branch review of the allowance system. They were less impressed by the decision that a committee composed solely of Parliamentarians unlike in Scotland and Wales should conduct the review. Whist the Committee has as off yet initiated their own review, they have listed a set of guiding principles which it feels are necessary to restore public trust. The full list can be found here.
OVERVIEW OF COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES
In reviewing the responsibilities of the Electoral Commission, the Committee made the following recommendations: -
- The Electoral Commissions work should be refocused to regulator of party political funding and campaign expenditure and regulator of electoral administration. The Committee takes the view that any new structure for party funding will not carry public support unless it is underpinned by a vigorous regulatory regime. The Government agreed with this recommendation but as yet has done nothing to legislate for it.
- The Electoral Commissions should therefore no longer have the roles of encouraging participation in the democratic process, of undertaking policy development in relation to electoral legislation or of involvement in electoral boundary matters. The Government proposes for the Electoral Commission to retain an oversight of parliamentary boundaries, which the Committee deem unnecessary bureaucracy given the existence of independent commissioners.
- Statutory regional electoral officers should be established with responsibility for monitoring the performance of electoral administrators in their regions. The Government has not rejected this idea, but is awaiting the outcome of the Commission’s current review of its English regional network.
- Current restrictions on who can be a commissioner should be revised to make possible the appointment of four commissioners with recent political experience. These new commissioners should, however, not be appointed as representatives or delegates of a particular political party.
- Plans should be made to introduce individual voter registration immediately following the next general election or by 2010 at the latest. The new system should require at least one objective personal identifier such as the National Insurance number.
