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Complaints of inappropriate behaviour (2017)

Request

Please confirm how many allegations of sexual abuse and/or harassment have been made by Parliamentary staff to the Parliamentary authorities in each of the last 10 years.

  • In each case, please confirm:
  • The nature of the allegation, and as many details as possible
    Whether the subject of the allegation was an MP or a member of the House of Lords
  • What action was taken as a result of the allegation


Response

Please note that the House of Commons and the House of Lords are two separate public authorities in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Our response below deals with allegations made by House of Commons staff, unless otherwise indicated. For information relating to staff of the House of Lords, you may wish to submit a request to the Lords Information Compliance Team, who can be contacted at FOILORDS@parliament.uk.

We have interpreted your request to be for allegations made by staff of the House of Commons to the House of Commons.

The House of Commons does not hold a record of how many allegations of sexual abuse and/or harassment have been made by parliamentary staff in the last 10 years. Whilst we do hold records of complaints, we do not categorise them in this way.

It may help you to know that allegations of criminal behaviour are directed to the police. The Metropolitan Police Service routinely publish information about all notifiable offences on the parliamentary estate on a quarterly basis. This is available to view on their website. You may wish to redirect you request to them for further information.
There are two formal channels for House of Commons staff to raise complaints about bullying and harassment. The Respect Policy is the channel for dealing with complaints about the behaviour of Members and/or Members’ staff. The Valuing Others Policy deals with complaints made by House staff about other House staff.