Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

{{Short description|Officer of the UK House of Commons}} {{Infobox official post | post = Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards | image = Daniel Greenberg CB.jpg | imagecaption = Official portrait of Daniel Greenberg | incumbent = Daniel Greenberg | incumbentsince = 1 January 2023 | type = Commissioner | reports_to = Parliament of the United Kingdom | appointer = Commons Select Committee on Standards | first = Gordon Downey | website = {{URL|https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/}} }}

The '''Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards''' is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards. The current commissioner is Daniel Greenberg.

==Duties== The commissioner is in charge of regulating MPs' conduct and propriety.<ref>{{cite web |quote=[Parliaments] in Paris and London have strongly focused on the 'reputational sanction' as a way for the discovery of the violation of the ethical-deontological standards of conduct of the parliamentarian. The institution of authorities outside the parliament has become the way in which those systems have tried to prevent judicial enforcement: both the English ''commissioner'' and the French {{lang|fr|déontologue}} (for some years, starting in 2011, appointed by the {{lang|fr|Bureau de l'Assemblée nationale}}) refer to the internal bodies of the respective parliaments, which are responsible for evaluating any sanctions. |language=it |url=https://www.academia.edu/38702365 |first=Giampiero |last=Buonomo |title=Su due sentenze della sesta sezione penale della Cassazione in tema di corruzione e parliamentary |trans-title=On two sentences of the sixth criminal section of the Cassation on corruption and parliamentarians |work=Diritto pubblico europeo rassegna |date=April 2019 |page=14 |access-date=2019-04-04 |archive-date=2021-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108114259/https://www.academia.edu/38702365 |url-status=live }}</ref> One of the commissioner's main tasks is overseeing the ''Register of Members' Financial Interests'', which is intended to ensure disclosure of financial interests that may be of relevance to MPs' work.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/ |title=Register of Members' Financial Interests |website=Parliament of the United Kingdom |access-date=8 November 2017 |archive-date=11 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011022534/https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests// |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Commissioner is the decision-maker in cases from the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme where the respondent is a Member of Parliament. If the Commissioner deems a sanction warranted, they refer cases to the Independent Expert Panel so the appropriate sanction can be determined.<ref name="GOV.UK_2020-06-19">{{cite web | title=MPs to transfer sanctions power to independent panel | website=GOV.UK | date=2020-06-19 | url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mps-to-transfer-sanctions-power-to-independent-panel | access-date=2021-09-23}}</ref>

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is appointed by a resolution of the House of Commons for a fixed term of five years and is an independent officer of the House,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/ |title=Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Office |website=Parliament of the United Kingdom |language=en |access-date=1 August 2018 |archive-date=11 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011022535/https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards// |url-status=live }}</ref> working a four-day week. The remit of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards does not extend to the House of Lords: the post of Lords Commissioner for Standards was created in 2010.<ref name="Parliament">{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/the-commissioner-for-standards/ |title=Lords Commissioner |website=Parliament of the United Kingdom |access-date=28 June 2012 |archive-date=11 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011022537/https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/house-of-lords-commissioner-for-standards-// |url-status=live }}</ref>

== History ==

The post was established in 1995 with Sir Gordon Downey as the first commissioner, serving the newly formed Committee for Standards and Privileges. He investigated the cash-for-questions affair.

The second commissioner was Elizabeth Filkin (1999–2002), whose first case involved Peter Mandelson and a large loan which he had failed to declare in the Register of Members' Interests.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/elizabeth-filkin-the-witch-puts-away-her-broomstick-751030.html |title=Elizabeth Filkin: the 'Witch' puts away her broomstick |work=The Independent |date=17 February 2002 | location=London | first=Jo | last=Dillon}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Her departure was controversial.<ref>{{cite news |title=Profile of Elizabeth Filkin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1693721.stm |access-date=27 October 2020 |work=BBC News |date=5 December 2011 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031171512/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1693721.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hencke |first1=David |title=How dirty tricks wounded Filkin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/dec/05/houseofcommons.whitehall |access-date=27 October 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=5 December 2001 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030213910/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/dec/05/houseofcommons.whitehall |url-status=live }}</ref>

The next commissioner was Sir Philip Mawer. MPs he investigated include George Galloway and Derek Conway. He avoided investigating high-level MPs such as cabinet ministers. Unlike his predecessor he was appointed to a second term, but he did not complete it; he took up a new post at the beginning of 2008 as an independent adviser on ministerial standards to the then prime minister Gordon Brown.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5488601/Sir-Philip-Mawer-profile.html |title=Sir Philip Mawer: profile |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |first=Chris |last=Irvine |date=10 June 2009 |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=11 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011022546/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5488601/Sir-Philip-Mawer-profile.html/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

John Lyon was commissioner from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012. Kathryn Hudson served as commissioner from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2017.<ref>{{cite hansard|house=House of Commons|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120912/debtext/120912-0003.htm#12091244000003|date=12 September 2012|column_start=382|column_end=387|title=Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-commission/Commission%2520report%2520on%2520PCS%2520(final).pdf|title=Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards: Nomination of Candidate |website=Parliament of the United Kingdom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223122524/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-commission/Commission%20report%20on%20PCS%20(final).pdf|archive-date=23 December 2012|access-date=27 September 2016}}</ref> Kathryn Stone served as commissioner from 1 January 2018 until 31 December 2022.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=18 October 2022 |title=Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (Appointment – Hansard) |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-10-18/debates/BC55CC35-009D-4764-85E1-03F5FBB5990B/ParliamentaryCommissionerForStandards(Appointment) |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=Hansard}}</ref>

The current commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, began his tenure on 1 January 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Daniel Greenberg nominated as next Parliamentary Standards Commissioner|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/news/daniel-greenberg-nominated-as-next-parliamentary-standards-commissioner-TqJuCaXKbemzS6R5X4qKS}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

== List of commissioners == {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards !colspan="3"|Commissioner !Term of Office

|- style="height:1em" |1 | 60px | Sir Gordon Downey | 1995–1999

|- style="height:1em" |2 | 60px | Elizabeth Filkin | 1999–2002

|- style="height:1em" |3 | 60px | Sir Philip Mawer | 2002–2008

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HC_CS The records of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011052129/https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HC_CS |date=2020-10-11 }} are held by the Parliamentary Archives * [http://www.parliament.uk/pcs Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards] official website * [http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/ Register of Members' Interests] * Josh Chafetz, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110603084448/http://yalelawjournal.org/images/pdfs/602.pdf "Cleaning House: Congressional Commissioners for Standards,"] Yale Law Journal, vol. 117, no. 1, pp. 165–73

Category:House of Commons of the United Kingdom Category:Ombudsmen in the United Kingdom Category:1995 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:Political funding in the United Kingdom