ICGS log (2023)

Response

1) Please provide a copy of (or export of relevant fields from) the database or system which logs all complaints concerning the House of Commons made to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, that have been made since its launch until today's date 25 Feb 2023.
2) I am requesting data fields from your log, which will not be personally identifiable to those who are not already aware of the complaint, that I presume to include (but are not limited to): date of complaint; month or year of alleged incident; nature or category of allegation; summary of complaint; position or job role of alleged perpetrator (eg. MP); outcome of complaint (or if complaint is pending). I am requesting all fields in the log, and an export of those, for each record, except those with personally identifiable information.
3) I am requesting details of all complaints, including those not taken forward or upheld, and all fields detailing your log of those complaints, except those that you feel can be exempted, or those in which you have made redactions.
and
4) It has previously been reported following a disclosure under the FOIA that 47 or the 248 complaints made up to 24 May 2022 did not proceed to the final assessment stage, where a case would be fully assessed, and that 27 of these were not assessed as they were withdrawn. Please provide details from the log of the progress or outcome of the complaint.

We have interpreted your questions to mean a copy of the ICGS’ case tracker containing all complaints specifically concerning Members, Members’ staff and staff of the House of Commons Administration between 1 July 2018 and 25 February 2023.

This information is held by the House of Commons.

The House holds a copy of the ICGS’ case tracker with all complaints concerning these groups for the period specified (csv, 58KB).

Please note however that some information within this file has been withheld in accordance with sections 34 and 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Details of these exemptions are provided below.

Section 34 – Parliamentary Privilege

When processing an investigation against a Member, the ICGS investigates this at an initial assessment stage and determines whether there are grounds to proceed the case to a full assessment (formal investigation). When this happens, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCS) becomes involved in the process. Both stages are part of the proceedings of the House of Commons and so the information is subject to parliamentary privilege. Any information held in this tracker in relation to cases against Members is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 34(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). The privileges of Parliament include the exclusive right (cognisance) of each House over whether and when information relating to proceedings in Parliament should be published, including details of cases against Members under the ICGS. In order to avoid an infringement of these privileges, the duty to confirm or deny whether the House of Commons holds such information does not apply to your request. This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.

Section 40 – Personal Data

Additionally, this document also contains information about complaints which identify Members, as well as Members’ staff and House staff. It contains information which could be used to identify individuals of these same groups, including details of allegations, dates disclosures were made, case reference numbers, as well as dates on which specific stages of individual investigations took place. This information is therefore exempt under section 40(2) FOIA, as disclosure of this information to the public generally, in the House’s view, would not be consistent with the data protection principle found in Article 5.1(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.