The FDA and Prospect, the trade unions representing House of
Commons staff, have called on the leaders of the major parties at
Westminster to commit to a “formal protocol” that would see
relevant information shared with the House of Commons Service
when an MP is placed under a party investigation for an alleged
sexual offence.
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman said:
“Just as the House authorities have a responsibility to protect
staff when they are made aware of serious allegations against
MPs, so do the parties themselves. We cannot have a situation
where the parties are aware of serious allegations and do not act
to protect employees of the House.
“Precautionary exclusion would be used in workplaces up and down
the country where allegations of violent or sexual misconduct are
being investigated. Parliament should be no different and the
parties need to live up to their rhetoric on taking these issues
seriously, and protecting those for whom Parliament is a
workplace like any other.”
In the joint letter to the party
leaders, Penman and Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy
said that a “new approach to information sharing” was required
that “both maintains the confidentiality that is so crucial in
these investigations, while permitting the limited sharing of
information… that would allow precautionary measures to be put in
place to protect all staff and visitors to Parliament”.
The letter pointed out that repeated reports of alleged sexual
misconduct were “not confined to one political party” and that
“some of these allegations have taken months, if not years, to
investigate, while in the meantime the alleged perpetrators are
free to attend the Parliamentary Estate, and the House Service is
unable to take any precautionary measures to protect its
staff”.
Calling for party leaders to commit to action, Penman and Clancy
concluded:
“The reputation of Parliament - and of politics more generally -
continues to be tarnished by the seemingly endless allegations of
sexual misconduct by MPs. The trust and confidence of
parliamentary staff - let alone the wider public - cannot be
re-established unless the parties themselves commit to take
stronger action, and to act with Parliament to ensure the highest
possible standards.”
