Rishi Sunak broke parliament’s rules by failing to properly declare his wife’s shares in a childcare agency boosted by the Budget.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced in March incentive payments of £600 for childminders joining the profession, and £1,200 if they join through an agency, like Koru Kids, which Akshata Murty has shares in. Koru Kids at the time welcomed the new incentives as “great”.
Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg opened the probe in April after Mr Sunak failed to mention those shares when questioned by parliament’s liaison committee.
But Mr Greenberg concluded that the prime minister’s breach was inadvertent and was a result of his “confusion” around the rules on declaration. It closed the inquiry and Mr Sunak will not face any further action.
Questioned by Labour MP Catherine McKinnell over why the payment doubles if workers sign up through an agency, and whether he had anything to declare in relation to the government’s childcare reforms, the PM said: “No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way.”
He did not mention that Ms Murty was an investor in Koru Kids, one of six private childcare agencies consulted on the scheme as part of the government’s childcare overhaul.
Mr Sunak did later declare Akshata Murty’s stake in Koru Kids in the ministerial register of interests.
Mr Greenberg said: “In accordance with the Code, Ms Murty’s shareholding was a relevant interest that should have been declared during the Liaison Committee meeting on 28 March 2023.”
The standards commissioner said he was satisfied that Mr Sunak had “confused” the concept of registration relating to arrangements for ministers with the concept of declaration of interests under the code of conduct for MPs.
“I formed the view that the failure to declare arose out of this confusion and was accordingly inadvertent on the part of Mr Sunak,” the standards commissioner concluded.
Mr Greenberg said: “During a meeting with Mr Sunak on 30 June 2023 I acknowledged that he may not have been aware of Ms Murty’s shareholding at the time of the Liaison Committee meeting, but he had a duty to correct the record.
“However, Mr Sunak was aware of the interest when he subsequently wrote to the chair of the Liaison Committee, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, on 4 April 2023, and he failed to declare the interest at that stage or correct the record.”
In a letter to the commissioner, Mr Sunak said: “Should this scenario arise again, I have acknowledged that I have a duty to write to the committee after my appearance to correct the record.
“I accept and once again apologise that my letter to the Liaison Committee on 4 April 2023 was not sufficiently expansive, as it confused the language of registration and declaration.”
