Consider disciplinary action against the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt

Rejected 20 signatures

What the petition asks

The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt has wilfully and deliberately misquoted medical studies regarding hospital deaths, in breach of paragraph 1.2c of the Ministerial Code. He has used this misinformation to try to guide the house to back the nuclear option of contract imposition on junior doctors.

Paragraph 1.2c of the Ministerial Code states: "It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity." Mr Hunt's quoting of medical studies showing differences in hospital death rates at different times of the week is in breach of the Ministerial Code, and even when publicly corrected by Dr Fiona Godlee, chief editor of the BMJ, he continued to deliberately misinform the house.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

It's not clear what kind of disciplinary action you would like to be taken.

We can’t accept petitions calling for an inquiry into whether an MP has misled the House of Commons. That’s because neither the House of Commons nor the Government is responsible for deciding that an inquiry that an inquiry of that kind should happen.

Investigation of alleged breaches of the Ministerial Code is the responsibility of the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests. Only the Prime Minister can refer cases for investigation:

http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN03750

You could start a new petition calling on the Prime Minister to refer these allegations to the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, if that is what you want to happen.

Timeline

13 Feb 2016	Petition opened for signatures
15 Jun 2016	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 20

Status Rejected

Rejected 15 Jun 2016

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