ALL new MPs should be expected to attend ethical training, a standards watchdog said after finding evidence the House of Commons was lagging behind other pubic bodies in providing proper induction.
The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life warned the Prime Minister that making sure politicians are aware of their duties to be honest, open, accountable and selfless "cannot be left to chance". Too many though appeared to be skipping what training was on offer despite Westminster sleaze scandals and the new power for voters to "recall" wrongdoing MPs meaning "the stakes have never been higher" to preserve their public reputation, he told him.
A report by the committee pointed to reports that fewer than one in five of those elected for the first time in 2010 attended even one induction session, and one on dealing with ethical dilemmas was cancelled when too few signed up.
It said it understood that the issue was "delicate" as many elected representatives saw being taught ethics as "impugning their integrity and their common sense".
Others considered it an unwelcome assumption that unelected people were "in a better position to know what to do than are representatives who are elected precisely to exercise their judgment on matters of controversy", a study it commissioned into the issue concluded.
But chairman Lord Paul Bew said action was needed to ensure Parliament caught up with higher standards in town halls and the civil service.
"Of particular concern to us was the reported lack of engagement with induction by large numbers of members of Parliament," he said in a foreword addressed directly to David Cameron.
"With the prospect of a Recall Bill, which will give the public the power to remove MPs who have behaved in ways that fall short of the standards expected of them, the stakes have never been higher.
"In effect, ethical issues will now be under even greater scrutiny. More than ever, MPs need to be fully aware of the principles and the rules that guide their behaviour.
"Parliament and the political parties need to provide the opportunities for them to build that awareness and understanding. An induction programme that fully embraces ethical standards should be the first of those opportunities."
The Commons was "noticeably behind some other organisations in embracing either the principle or the practice of induction, let alone accepting that there was a role for ethics within it", the report said.
"We do not believe that ethical standards can be an optional extra," the committee said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article