Hansard

This is a short but nevertheless important debate on the interests of members of the Scottish Parliament. Across the chamber we all agree that we need robust, accountable and transparent mechanisms for reporting members’ interests.

The Parliament rightly prides itself on its openness and accountability, and the bill gives the opportunity to revisit the existing legislation on members’ interests. The bill will help to increase the transparency and accessibility of information about members’ financial interests and it will ensure that the Parliament has a robust set of sanctions to deal with any breaches of its rules.

A useful measure included in the bill is the motion of censure, which will serve as a useful middle ground if a member is found to be in breach of the rules but that breach is not serious enough to justify the removal of parliamentary privilege. A motion of censure would allow debate and would give the member in question the opportunity to explain the breach and to apologise.

Another useful change is the length of time for which information on members’ interests will be kept. The committee considered it more appropriate to keep register entries for 10 years instead of five. There are a number of practical reasons for that. It will assist members by ensuring that information about their previously held interests is available at the start of a session. Similarly, if a member is not returned to Parliament but returns at a subsequent election, it will be easier for them to check the interests that were previously recorded.

The change will also increase transparency in relation to members’ interests, as the information will be easily accessible to the public for longer. Those changes, combined with the changes to the register, will provide an additional layer of transparency to the public in seeking to access information on members’ interests.

As Stewart Stevenson said in his opening comments, the ending of dual reporting is an important step. At the moment, information is on the Parliament’s website and the Electoral Commission’s website, depending on the nature of the interest. Streamlining the process will assist people in accessing the information and it will help members to comply more easily with the regime.

I am pleased that no member has ever been found to be in breach of the rules on paid advocacy, but we must keep those rules under review, so it is right to strengthen them through the bill. Most members of the public would expect there to be a breach if a member agreed to undertake paid advocacy, even when cash does not change hands. The bill will ensure that such behaviour will be caught.

The amendments that were lodged by Stewart Stevenson at stage 2, which extend section 9 of the bill so that it covers a member or their partner requesting an inducement for the member to carry out paid advocacy, were a further and very useful clarification, and a welcome addition to the bill.

I take this opportunity to thank Stewart Stevenson, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee and the clerks for the work that they have done to progress this important piece of legislation.

I am pleased to speak today for Scottish Labour and to support the motion, which seeks the Parliament’s agreement to the principles of the bill. The provisions will increase transparency and strengthen the standards regime in the Scottish Parliament. Openness, transparency and accountability must be at the forefront of the way in which the Parliament operates. I am happy to support the motion in Stewart Stevenson’s name and to support the Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament (Amendment) Bill.