Simon Danczuk censured by Parliamentary Committee on Standards

Simon Danczuk MP

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has been censured by the Parliamentary Committee on Standards for failing to register his outside earnings (the bulk of which come from his book exposing Cyril Smith as a paedophile) in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests within the 28 days required - in one instance as late as 14 months after he received the money.

Mr Danczuk was cleared of any intention to conceal the earnings, however, Kathryn Hudson, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, says in her report to the Committee the matter is "serious" and she is "not confident" that Mr Danczuk "has taken sufficient action to avoid similar lapses in future".

She says: "At the time when the complaint was made Mr Danczuk had registered one item in the first seven months of the year. During the course of my inquiries he has registered a further 22 items, 13 of which were late. Mr Danczuk has made 6 late registrations since I drew this matter to his attention, 2 of these more than a month late. The total amount of money involved was £19,894. Repeated failures to make timely registrations add up to a serious matter. While Mr Danczuk has given me an assurance that he will take steps to improve the timeliness of his registrations, at the time of drafting this memorandum I am not confident that he has taken sufficient action to avoid similar lapses in future."

Asked about his administrative arrangements, Mr Danczuk said to the commissioner: “I think that’s the crux of my problem really, which is that I took that job on myself and it’s because I don’t, and I should, prioritise it but I don’t prioritise it. I prioritise other work. I am not particularly…. I don’t particularly enjoy administration. Not that I don’t see the purpose of it. I completely understand the logic and the importance of declaring such interests. But yes, it falls between two stools and previously, I had a guy that stayed on top of it. So that’s been one of the problems really”. And later: “This is one of the problems for me, I don’t know where to look for the Register, on the internet. It might sound daft, but it looks complex to me so that when I google Member, Register of Members’ Interests and stuff, you can end up… it seems to take me quite a long time, which I find quite frustrating.”

The committee has said that if re-elected, Mr Danczuk has to report back in October 2015: "We note that the Commissioner’s memorandum concludes 'I have also asked the Registrar, if Mr Danczuk is re-elected, to report to me in October 2015 on his registration practices.' In view of Mr Danczuk’s failure to keep his Register entries up to date in the past year, we support this action."

Responding to Rochdale Online, Mr Danczuk said: "I accept the findings of the commissioner. I was late in registering income from our book and this was due to a change of personnel in my office. I'm always open and transparent about these issues and I will make sure I register things in a more timely manner in future."​

Mr Danczuk also revealed in his responses to the commissioner that his book about Cyril Smith had been 90% written and produced by his co-author, Matt Baker. It is understood that a contractual agreement gives Mr Danczuk and Mr Baker 50% each of any payments and as Mr Baker is employed by Mr Danczuk and has a Commons pass, the commissioner is also questioning whether Mr Baker's payments should also be registered.

She said: "This inquiry has raised another issue which is not the subject of the complaint. Mr Danczuk’s co-author, who works for Mr Danczuk and is based in his constituency, has a House of Commons pass. The Rules require that employees in this position should register 'Any occupation or employment for which they receive over £330 from the same source in the course of a calendar year, if that occupation or employment is in any way advantaged by the privileged access to Parliament afforded by their pass.' The payments have not been registered. I have therefore asked the Registrar to inquire whether the staff member had considered registering this payment, and to report the outcome to me."

Matt Baker said: "I have spoken to the registrar and I have not broken any rules. Declarations by staff have to be made if outside work was advantaged by being a pass holder. I was not advantaged by being a pass holder, I'm not based in London and I wrote the book up here."

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