Registration of Members’ Financial Interests
Debate between Peter Bottomley and Kevin Barron(13 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Sir Peter Bottomley
I am aware that I slightly bounced the right hon. Gentleman with my question about paragraph 13(b). If he is not able to say tonight whether the reference to
“a direct interest in the work of the APG”
was taken out deliberately, could he ask someone to let me know whether it was deliberate or whether it was just one of those things?
Mr Barron
I will make sure that the hon. Gentleman gets that information.
The Committee also said:
“The trivial nature of some of these payments and the disproportionate effort involved in recording and then registering them has called into question the utility of the rule. The February 2010 edition of the Register contained over 100 more pages than the June 2008 edition.”
The figures were 264 pages as opposed to 157. If what we have heard is correct, it is clear that the many hon. Members who have not registered bouquets of flowers, pots of honey and so on could eventually find that they are outwith the register. Given those circumstances, we need to address this area.