Handling of future complaints
of misuse of the private dining facilities
1. In our Third Report,[1]
we considered a number of complaints concerning private dining
functions in the House. In our Fourth Report,[2]
we reported on a complaint against Mr Julian Brazier concerning
an event held after its publication, but similar in character
to some of those which were the subject of that report. The proximity
of the date of publication of the Third Report to the date of
Mr Brazier's function meant that he could not have cancelled it
without incurring a financial penalty. We agree with the Commissioner
that it is not reasonable, given the long history of such events,
to require Members to cancel them in circumstances which would
leave them with a personal financial liability to the Refreshment
Department.[3]
2. In his memorandum submitted to us on the complaint
against Mr Brazier, the relevant excerpt from which is appended
to this Report,[4] the
Commissioner suggested[5]
that we set a cut-off point after which, in considering complaints
that political parties have benefited inappropriately from functions
held in the private dining rooms, we should:
- look only at the consistency
of the function with the provisions of the Banqueting Regulations,
and no longer have regard to historic custom and practice in relation
to such functions; and
- assume that the sponsor of the function has satisfied
themself that, in acting as sponsor, they are acting in a manner
fully consistent with the strict requirements of the Regulations.
3. We agree with the Commissioner that it would
be helpful to Members generally for us to provide a clear statement
of our intentions in this respect. We will apply the criteria
set out above to complaints in relation to events booked from
18 June 2007, and are asking the Refreshment Department to draw
this to the attention of Members when acknowledging their booking.
4. We also consider that, as regards functions
already booked, there should be a limited opportunity for Members
to withdraw their sponsorship, without financial obligation to
the Refreshment Department, from any function which they consider,
on reflection, may not meet the strict requirements of the Banqueting
Regulations. We therefore propose to apply the criteria
in relation to complaints in respect of existing bookings to all
functions taking place on or after 1 September 2007. This will
mean that a Member can cancel such a function before the end of
June without incurring a financial penalty under the existing
Banqueting Regulations.
1 HC 431. Back
2
HC 682. Back
3
See HC 682, Appendix 1, para. 28 (also reproduced in the Appendix
to this Report). Back
4
The full text of the memorandum is set out in the Committee's
Fourth Report, HC 682, at Appendix 1. Back
5
Appendix, para. 29. Back
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