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House of Lords: Code of Conduct

I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord for his assistance. I believe that to be the case. Therefore, there is absolutely no reason to sign a further document when one has already sworn an oath or made an affirmation to be of good behaviour. We really need the answer to that question. If there is no sanction, there is no point in signing the declaration. I believe that it would be unlawful to introduce such a sanction. Will the noble Baroness, in replying, say whether this is voluntary or compulsory? That is a very important question. From that answer, I shall make a decision as to whether to test the opinion of the House. Frankly, this proposition has not been properly considered. This afternoon the noble Baroness ought to accept my amendment on the basis of giving further consideration to what is proposed. I hope she will consider that between now and when the vote, perhaps, will come. My second amendment seeks to reject the appointment of a House of Lords Commissioner for Standards and to continue with the existing arrangements. It seems to me that appointing an outside person to deal with alleged breaches of the code shows a lack of confidence in ourselves. We have every reason to be confident in ourselves and, indeed, our ability to handle our own affairs. If we cannot sort out our own problems and require outside supervision, we could be open to the charge that we cannot be trusted with the governance of the country. I gave my views to the Leader’s Group. I should like to quote a paragraph from my submission but I cannot find it. That is very inefficient; it must have dropped out of the pile. Basically, I said that the Members of this House, who include two archbishops, 24 bishops, retired clergy of the Church of England and other clergy do not need to be supervised by somebody outside this House. Judges and people who have demonstrated exceptionally good behaviour do not need to be supervised by a civil servant or somebody similar. We must ask ourselves why a retired judge or top civil servant would be better able to deal with alleged breaches of the code of conduct than senior noble Lords who possess integrity, have long experience inside and outside this House and understand the way the House works. We already have a well established system to deal with any misdemeanours that may occur. After all, this House has handled its internal affairs for centuries, and has done it pretty well. Indeed, in the previous Session, the House proved that it could deal swiftly and decisively with noble Lords who breached the code, for which it received praise and thanks from a number of quarters. The noble Baroness the Leader of the House received well deserved praise for her zeal, determination and effectiveness in dealing with allegations against Peers. She did so quickly, efficiently and fairly. Having shown that we can deal with the problems that we had during the previous Session, why on earth do we now have to invite somebody from outside to do that job for us? That fundamental recommendation should be rejected. I doubt very much whether a Commissioner for Standards could have done any better. He could not have acted more speedily than did this House, or produced any better result than was achieved through our own procedures. If we have an outside commissioner, things could get worse. If an extra tier of investigation is imposed, there could be delay in dealing with complaints. Any disagreement between the commissioner and the House committees could cause complications and further delay in settling complaints. I note that the Leader’s Group in its report states that it does not expect a large workload for the commissioner, and that he or she could be retained on a part-time basis, and, presumably, remunerated on a per diem basis. Finally, I reiterate that we should be careful of farming out the regulation of this House to an outside commissioner. I do not believe that there is much enthusiasm for the measure among Members of the House—but, of course, we shall find out during the ensuing debate. I hope that the Leader of the House will also accept my amendment for the proposals to be reconsidered. I regret that I have taken up the time of the House in making these points. It would have been very much better if we could have considered these matters at a later stage.