The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) is a scheme set up by the British Houses of Parliament which investigates complaints about inappropriate behaviour, such as

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...

or sexual misconduct, and provides advice to complainants. Any current or former member of the Parliamentary community is able to raise an issue with the ICGS. The scheme operates under the oversight of the

Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards. The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone. Duties The commissioner is i ...

. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is the decision-maker in cases involving Members of Parliament. If the Commissioner decides that a respondent should be sanctioned, they refer the case to the

Independent Expert Panel The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) is a body of the British Houses of Parliament which determines the appropriate sanction for Members of Parliament in cases involving bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct referred to it by the Parliamentary C ...

to determine the sanction. The ICGS set up a Behaviour Code that MPs, Lords, visitors to or employees in parliament must abide by. It also runs a helpline for people to seek advice. The director is Jo Willows. The body was formed in 2018 following the

MeToo movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

and was devised to tackle MPs' sexual misconduct. In 2021, 388 people contacted the ICGS's helpline for advice, 293 in 2019–2020 and 285 in 2018–2019. In 2021, 48 investigations were carried out. The investigations were criticised for taking too long in a 2021 report by HR director Alison Stanley. The average time for an investigation to be concluded was 196 days.

External link

Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme

References

{{reflist Parliament of the United Kingdom Sexual harassment