MP Marcus Fysh 'looking into' rule breach claims

Marcus Fysh chairs an all-party parliamentary group that looks at education provision

An MP being investigated over whether services were correctly registered as benefits says he is also looking into the matter.

Marcus Fysh, the MP for Yeovil, is chair of the all-party parliamentary group for education (APPG).

He is being investigated over possible rule breaches associated with the group.

Mr Fysh said he was accountable for the APPG's finances and was checking how any breaches may have occurred.

The investigation was announced on the website of Parliament's standards commissioner on Tuesday.

The announcement said there were concerns that Conservative Mr Fysh might have broken rules over income and expenditure statements and the publication of mandatory information.

Mr Fysh told the BBC he was held accountable for the APPG's finances because of his role as its chair, and was checking whether the secretarial services provided to the committee were correctly registered as benefits.

He added that the APPG has had "no income or expenditure" over the past few years due to being "relatively inactive" during the pandemic, and had received secretarial services with a value of about £20,000 a year.

"I am checking whether this [benefits being registered] has been done correctly on the advice of the secretariat prior to my becoming chairman in February 2020 and since - including during Covid-19 when normal annual general meetings could not take place."