The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards is responsible for the independent and impartial investigation of alleged breaches of the House of Lords Code of Conduct. This includes investigating breaches of the rules on Members’ financial support and parliamentary facilities.
The current Commissioner is Paul Kernaghan CBE QPM, who was appointed on 2 June 2010. He was Chief Constable of the Hampshire Constabulary from 1999 until 2008.
Complaints
Anyone wishing to make a complaint against a Member of the House of Lords concerning a matter within the Commissioner’s remit should write to The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards, House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW. Please note that complaints submitted by telephone or email will not be considered.
When making a complaint the following information should be provided:
- in what respect the Member concerned has breached the Code of Conduct, or broken the rules governing the use of financial support or parliamentary facilities
- as much evidence as possible in support of the complaint
- name, postal address, telephone number and, if possible, email address.
The Commissioner conducts a preliminary assessment of all complaints. Following this preliminary assessment he will inform both the complainant and the Member concerned whether or not he will investigate the complaint. If the Commissioner decides that a complaint does not merit investigation then he will provide the person who has complained with a brief explanation of the reasons for his decision.
A full explanation of the investigation process can be found in the Guide to the Code of Conduct.
For general enquiries the office of the Commissioner can be contacted on 0207 2197152 and at lordsstandards@parliament.uk.
Annual report
The first annual report, which was published on 1 December 2011, covers the period 2 June 2010 to 31 May 2011. The report details the number of complaints received in that period and indicates how the complaints were resolved.
Report on the conduct of Lord Hamilton of Epsom
The Commissioner for Standards has investigated a complaint into the conduct of Lord Hamilton of Epsom. He submitted his report to the Sub-Committee on Lords’ Conduct on 1 March 2012. The Commissioner found that Lord Hamilton was in breach of the Code of Conduct by failing to declare a relevant interest during a debate. Lord Hamilton accepted that he was in breach and his letter of apology to the chairman of the Sub-Committee on Lords’ Conduct is appended to the commissioner’s report. The Committee for Privileges and Conduct has agreed that the commissioner’s report should be published here (4 April 2012).
Further information
House of Lords Code of Conduct (PDF 333 KB)
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