Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the Commission consulted the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards before making its recommendations of 10 February 2020 on the creation of an independent panel to consider complaints made against hon Members; and whether the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards supports the Commission's preferred option.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCS) was fully consulted during the process of drawing up options for implementing the third Cox recommendation. The House of Commons Commission cannot speak on behalf of the PCS who is independent, but the option selected by the Commission was the one which commanded most widespread support during that consultation process, including from the PCS.