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Staff complaints (2021)

Request

How many incidents of sexual misconduct have been reported by parliamentary staff to the House of Commons Commission since 1 January 2016 until present? Please could each incident be broken down into the sex of the individual who reported it, the year it took place, whether further action was taken and the type of sexual harassment.

 

Response

We have interpreted your request as being about incidents which are reported to the House of Commons Administration in general, rather than just the House of Commons Commission. The House of Commons Administration is the public authority you have sent your request to, and is responsible for providing the services that allow Members to carry out their roles. The House of Commons Commission is a committee formed of the Speaker, MPs and staff members of the Administration and is responsible for making decisions about the work of the Administration. It is not responsible for receiving or processing complaints of sexual misconduct.

We have also interpreted the use of ‘parliamentary staff’ in your request to refer to both staff of the House of Commons Administration, who are apolitical public servants responsible for the running of the House, and staff employed by Members of Parliament, who support their particular MP in their duties.

Some information is held by the House of Commons in relation to your request.

In the first instance, it may help you to know that there have been several routes to complain about sexual misconduct in the House of Commons for the requested period, as detailed below.

• Grievances – formal complaints about the behaviour of other House of Commons staff can be handled under a generic grievance procedure;
• The Valuing Others Policy – for staff to complain about the inappropriate behaviour of other House of Commons staff. The Policy was permanently suspended in 2018;
• The Respect Policy – this was for staff of the House of Commons complaining about the behaviour of Members of their staff. The Policy was also permanently suspended in 2018;
• The Independent Complaints and Grievances Scheme (ICGS) – implemented in July 2018 and now serves as the procedure for complaints about any sexual misconduct, bullying or harassment;
• The Police – for any individual to make a complaint about criminal behaviour by another person;
• The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCS) – investigates allegations that Members have breached their Code of Conduct; and
• Members’ HR Advice Service – provides confidential advice to Members of Parliament in their role as employers.

To respond to your request, we have broken down our response in line with these routes of complaint.

Complaints made under grievance procedures and the Respect and Valuing Others Policies:

The House of Commons holds information about complaints made under grievance procedures since 2014, and information about complaints made under the Respect and Valuing Others Policies from 2014 up until the point where they were suspended in 2018.

While this information includes the total number of complaints, the cases are not categorised in the way you request. In order to supply a count of complaints which constitute ‘sexual misconduct’, a sophisticated judgement would have to be made about the information held. We are therefore not obliged by the Freedom of Information 2000 (FOIA) to carry out this breakdown or create this information.

Complaints made under the ICGS:

The House of Commons holds information about complaints of sexual misconduct made under the ICGS since it was established in July 2018.

When a person makes a complaint to the ICGS it is known as a ‘disclosure’ and is investigated under either the Sexual Misconduct Policy or the Bullying and Harassment Policy. We hold information about the number of disclosures investigated, the year in which they were made and, in some cases, whether action was taken.

Whether we hold information about the action taken in each case depends on who the respondent is. The responsibility for taking action following an investigation, such as a written warning or dismissal, lies with the relevant decision-making body. Where the respondent is a member of staff of the House of Commons Administration, the decision-making body is our People and Culture team and therefore this information is held by us. However, if the respondent is an MP, this is the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and if it is an MP’s member of staff, this is the relevant MP themselves. Therefore, information about action taken in these cases is not held. Further information about this process is available in ICGS guide for complainants, which is available on our parliamentary pages.

The information you have requested is laid out below. It covers all disclosures investigated under the Sexual Misconduct Policy which were made either by a member of staff of the House of Commons Administration or a member of staff employed by a Members of Parliament.

Please note that, since the ICGS was established on 19 July 2018, each year in the table below runs from 19 July of one year to 18 July of the following year, unless otherwise stated. The information for the 2020/21 year is correct as at 16 June 2021.

Reporting Year Disclosures In which action taken
2018/19 (from 19 Jul 2018)  [REDACTED]  [REDACTED]
2019/20 6 [REDACTED]
2020/21 (until 16 Jun 2021)  [REDACTED] [REDACTED]

 

 


Some information in the table has been redacted from the table above. This is because in some instances, owing to the low numbers of staff involved (fewer than 5), disclosing this data may make it possible for individuals to be identified. This information is therefore exempt by virtue of section 40(2) FOIA, as disclosure of this information to the public generally, in the our view, would not be consistent with data protection principles in Article 5 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation. This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.

We do not hold information about the sex of the individual who made each of the disclosures nor the ‘type’ of sexual harassment in each case.

Complaints made to the Police:

People who make complaints of a criminal nature, such as sexual assault, are encouraged to report the matter to the police. This information is not held by the House of Commons, but by the relevant police force.

Complaints made to the PCS:

The House of Commons holds information about allegations made about Members to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCS). The PCS investigates allegations that MPs have breached the rules found in paragraphs 11-18 of the House of Commons’ Code of Conduct for Members, and has oversight of investigations that are conducted under the ICGS where the behaviour of an MP is being investigated.

The PCS publishes statistics about Code of Conduct complaints, including the number of complaints made to her, information about investigations carried out and the result of those investigations. Whilst the House of Commons holds this information, it is also already available from a public source. This information is therefore exempt from disclosure in accordance with section 21(1) and (2)(a) FOIA, which removes a public authority from the obligation to provide access to information which is already in the public domain. This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.

However, it may help you to know that the information published by the PCS can be found at the complaints and investigations pages of our website. In addition, the Independent Expert Panel (IEP), which was established in June 2020 to hear appeals against the Commissioner’s decisions, consider referrals and determine sanctions, also publishes information about complaints and investigations. Before the establishment of the IEP, these responsibilities were part of the remit of the House of Commons Committee on Standards.

The Commissioner’s role is created through Standing Order 150 of the House of Commons and information held by her is therefore subject to parliamentary privilege. The Standing Order also dictates what information is published. Therefore, any other information which may or may not be held by the PCS in relation to your request is exempt information under section 34(2) FOIA. The privileges of Parliament include the exclusive cognisance of each House over whether and when information relating to proceedings in Parliament should be published. 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.

Information about complaints held by the Members’ HR Advice Service:

The House holds records of some matters for which MPs have sought advice from the Members’ HR Advice Service. However, this information is not broken down such that complaints of ‘sexual misconduct’ can be identified. In order to supply a count of such complaints, a sophisticated judgement would have to be made about the information held. We are therefore not obliged by the FOIA to carry out this breakdown or create this information.