Parliament must fix complaints system, says standards chief

Parliament must improve its complaints system following a string of allegations of misconduct by MPs, Westminster's standards chief has said.

Several MPs have been suspended in recent months following allegations ranging from sexual misconduct to threatening behaviour.

Staff have told the BBC the House of Commons has a "predatory culture".

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards said the current complaints system is falling short.

Daniel Greenberg told Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "There's work needed to be done in ensuring that cases are concluded fast - as fast as it is consistent with balancing the need to have a fair and rigorous investigation with delivering speedy justice."

Allegations of misconduct by MPs had meant public trust in politicians was "dangerously low".

"If we are going to regain public trust in the way that we would like, it needs to be clear that we will carry on working until we have a safe workplace environment for everybody," he said.

In 2018, Parliament set up the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), to investigate complaints about inappropriate behaviour, such as bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct, and to provide advice to complainants.

Since then, complaints are investigated by independent investigators, commissioned by the ICGS team, on a case-by-case basis.

"What we need to ensure is that the system makes it very clear; there is no tolerance for members who do not provide a safe working environment for their colleagues of all kind and there's no misconduct of any kind," Mr Greenberg said.

"The public rightly expects Westminster to be a model workplace."