Taxis for Speaker's wife 'consistent with permitted use'
Mr Mark Wallace - Campaign Director of the Taxpayers' Alliance - submitted a complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner in which he claimed that the cost of certain taxi journeys undertaken by Mrs. Mary Martin, the wife of Mr Speaker, had been improperly met - through the Speaker's Office - from public funds.
This Report from the Committee on Standards and Privileges, 'Conduct of Mr Speaker'
(HC 559), examines the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standard's decision to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that 'the journeys were consistent with the permitted use of taxis for official business and a reasonable use of public funds'.
Role of the Attorney General examined
This Report, 'Reform of the Office of Attorney General' (HL 93), examines the role of the Attorney General as provider and co-ordinator of legal advice, and senior legal advisor to the Crown. It also examines the role of the Attorney General in individual prosecutions and its functions as a minister.
House of Commons 'e-Petitions' scheme proposed
Historically, it has been seen as the right of every commoner to prepare and present petitions to the House of Commons in case of grievance and for the House to receive and respond to them.
This report, 'e-Petitions' (HC 136), follows on from a May 2007 Procedure Committee Report, in which support was expressed in principle for an e-petitioning system for the House of Commons.
Constitutional renewal for Britain proposed
In July 2007, the Green Paper 'The Governance of Britain'
(Cm. 7170) was published, which set out the Government's vision and proposals
for constitutional renewal, calling on the public, Parliament and other
organisations to submit their views. A further five consultation papers were
issued following the July 2007 Green Paper.
This three-volume White
Paper, 'The Governance of Britain - Constitutional Renewal' (Cm. 7342-I/II/II),
is the result of the consultation process and forms part of the Governance of
Britain series examining constitutional renewal.
Conduct of Mr Peter Hain examined
This Report from the Committee on Standards and Privileges, 'Conduct of Mr Peter Hain' (HC 324), sets out the current state of the investigation into the conduct of Mr Peter Hain, Member of Parliament for Neath and former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Conduct of Derek Conway MP examined
This Report from the Commons Committee on Standards and
Privileges, ‘Conduct of Mr Derek Conway’ (HC
280), examines the conduct of Derek Conway, Member of Parliament for Old
Bexley and Sidcup.
Alternative voting systems reviewed
'The
Governance of Britain - Review of Voting Systems' (Cm. 7304) examines the
experience of new voting systems in the United Kingdom since 1997.
MPs salaries set to rise
‘Review
Body on Senior Salaries Report # 64: Review of Parliamentary Pay, Pensions and
Allowances 2007’ (Cm. 7270) examines the pay, pensions and allowances for
members of the House of Commons and House of Lords.
Plaid Cymru MPs conduct criticised
This Report, ‘Conduct
of Mr Elfyn Llwyd, Mr Adam Price and Mr Hywel Willliams’ (HC 94), examines
complaints into the conduct of three Plaid Cymru Members or Parliament,
following allegations of misuse of parliamentary allowances.
Science and Technology Committee to be
dissolved
‘The Last Report’ (HC 1108) is the
final report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.
Governance of Britain: protest, war making and
judicial appointments
In July 2007,
'The Governance of Britain' (Cm.
7170) presented the Government's proposals for constitutional renewal.
The four main themes of the Governance of Britain series are:
- Limiting the power of the executive
- Making the executive more
accountable
- Re-invigorating democracy
- The relationship
between the citizen and the state.
Governance: reviewing the Attorney General’s role
and Public Petitions
In its Green Paper
'The
Governance of Britain' (Cm. 7170), the Government set out proposals for
radical constitutional reform to rebalance power between the executive,
legislature and the people.
Among the proposals to improve the
engagement between Parliament and the people were:
- A commitment to
reforming the role of the Attorney General
- Changes to the system of
Public Petitions and Early Day Motions.
George Galloway investigated
'Conduct
of Mr George Galloway' (HC 909-I) examines the memorandum produced by the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on the outcome of his investigation of
complaints against the conduct of Mr George Galloway MP (the text of the
memorandum is included as an appendix to the report).
The Commissioner's
investigation focused on allegations published in a series of articles in the
Daily Telegraph in April 2003 that Mr Galloway had received substantial
undeclared personal financial benefits from the former Iraqi regime ran by
Saddam Hussein by way of the UN Oil for Food programme, and that in doing so he
had breached the Commons' rules on registration of interests and the Commons'
Code of Conduct.
Empowering women: Ministers for Women set out
priorities
This statement
‘Priorities
for the Ministers for Women’ (Cm 7183) sets out the Ministers’
priorities for policies designed to empower and support women in Britain.
Government announces draft legislative
programme
This Command Paper
'The
Governance of Britain - The Government's Draft Legislative Programme' (Cm.
7175) is the first annual statement setting out a draft legislative
programme to be laid before the next Parliament.
Where previously the
legislative programme was not divulged in advance of the Queen's Speech at the
State Opening of Parliament, this new annual statement allows Parliament and
the public advance notice of the legislation that the Government plans to bring
forward.
Wide constitutional reform proposed
Aimed at restoring public trust in politics, this Green
Paper
'The
Governance of Britain' (Cm. 7170) sets out the Government's vision and
proposals for constitutional renewal. Plans focus particularly on modernising
the role of the Executive in the UK system of governance.
The four main
themes are:
- Limiting the power of the executive
- Making the
executive more accountable
- Re-invigorating democracy
- Improving
the relationship between the citizen and the state.
Register of Members' Interests
This edition of the
Register
of Members' Interests (HC 436) records Members' Interests as at 26 March
2007.
The main purpose of the Register is to encourage transparency by
providing information of any pecuniary or other material benefit which an MP
receives, which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her
actions, speeches or votes in Parliament.
Political party financing in UK is “unstable”
Political parties are key institutions in any system of representative democracy.
In this Report, the Constitutional Affairs Committee finds that the present system of party financing in the UK is “unstable”.
Improving educational facilities at Parliament
This Report ‘Improving Facilities for Educational
Visitors to Parliament’ (HC 434) looks at improving visitor's access to
Parliament, and assesses what the focus of Parliament's visitor services should
be and who should be the main target audience.
Funding of political parties examined
This Report explores options for reforming the funding of
political parties. Undertaken in response to a request by the Prime Minister
following recent controversy surrounding peerages for donors and loans made to
political parties, the report acknowledges that there is a widespread public
disenchantment with party politics and politicians.