Speeches by Wheeler.

“You have stated that your office received 2,955 written allegations and inquiries in the year 2024-25, but that resulted in 15 code of conduct inquiries. What can the House, and you and your office, do to address the public misperception of what your office is for?”

“In that case, do you have a rough idea of what proportion of those—more than the 15 that led to an investigation—fall into each of those categories? Just so that we can consider and assess whether, as I asked, if there is more that we, the House, or that you need to do. If we are talking about a small number with that …”

“Maybe we could step away from the standing orders. That is never a good idea, I appreciate, but it is for the context of the conversation, and moving away from the beginning point. I accept that the advice was not to fill gaps, but to move to the end point, and how they are used. I think that you have indicated that, a…”

“I wonder whether the hon. Member accepts that, as a number of colleagues have drawn to the House’s attention, the current system has a perverse incentive that pushes people towards a more complicated tribunal system that seeks to identify discrimination, rather than a simpler system of unfair dismissal, because of the …”

“You mentioned working on the next Session. Can you provide us with any more certainty on the timings for the present Session of Parliament, following the announcement by your predecessor in September that the present Session would continue into spring 2026?”

“Recently, there have been several instances where the House has had to be suspended because statements have not been delivered to Parliament in good time. As the House’s representative in Government, what actions are you taking to ensure that your ministerial colleagues are providing information to Parliament in a time…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“I am perplexed and confused by what I am hearing. Does the hon. Member appreciate that by moving the goalposts once again, and delaying this crucial Bill once again, she is leaving an open goal for unscrupulous employers?”

“Can you tell us a little about your experience of the sub judice resolution in the House of Lords?”

“You might have already hinted at your answer to this question. Do you believe that the two Houses should remain aligned in terms of their application, or should the elected House have more scope in some way to discuss urgent and emerging issues?”

“You mentioned the role the Speaker plays in the Commons, in terms of Members receiving a waiver. What is the process in the House of Lords for securing a sub judice waiver?”

“You might have already hinted at your answer to this question. Do you believe that the two Houses should remain aligned in terms of their application, or should the elected House have more scope in some way to discuss urgent and emerging issues?”

“You mentioned the role the Speaker plays in the Commons, in terms of Members receiving a waiver. What is the process in the House of Lords for securing a sub judice waiver?”

“Can you tell us a little about your experience of the sub judice resolution in the House of Lords?”

“This is a straightforward question. Is there merit in the Charity Commission’s suggestion that Parliament might be better served by awaiting the outcome of its action to quash the PCA’s decision that injustice had occurred, and that she would report that to the House?”

“I want to tease out something you just said. You talked about your accountability to the Committees of this House regarding your operation, your remit and your jurisdiction. Would the same not also be true of the PHSO and their accountability? Does this not come back to the point that there were political remedies avai…”

“If you allow me to push gently on drawing these together, do you accept that they might be points of dispute—ones that might well be argued publicly in a court and do not necessarily chime with actions to prevent the report being tabled and published?”

“In general, many matters of dispute are in the public domain. If the report were published, it is open to you—as suggested—to dispute its findings publicly and, specifically in this case, before the PACAC. What is the public interest in suppressing the report in its entirety?”

“The Charity Commission seeks a declaration that the PCA’s decision was unlawful. In this context, what does the term “unlawful” mean? Are the things that a court would be deciding qualitatively different from what the relevant Committee might want to consider?”

“Okay, but that is a couple of months later than the decision making on the other side, at the beginning of this—for clarity’s sake, thank you. On a slightly more general point, picking up on my colleagues, you understand why this Committee and the House at large might have an interest in, or concerns about, any action …”