House of Lords: Allowances — Motion to Approve

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:45 pm on 20 July 2010.

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Photo of Lord Williamson of Horton Lord Williamson of Horton Crossbench 3:45, 20 July 2010

My Lords, I was a member of the ad hoc group appointed to consider and consult on issues in the SSRB report and to advise on their implementation. Although there were moments when I felt that membership of the group was a cruel and unnatural punishment, on the whole, I concluded that the work was well worth while and contributed to the improvement of the arrangements for the financial support of Members. I shall say a very few words about the group's report, in so far as it is still relevant to the Motions before the House today, and then comment on the recommendations of the House Committee and the Motions on the Order Paper.

Although events have moved on since the ad hoc group's work and report, it is still worth noting that, first, the group consulted widely, and the many references to the views of Members are well based. We received 89 written submissions from Members and held a whole series of consultative meetings, with members of the group present, to take views. We also produced a survey on overnight accommodation, to which 473 Members replied. Our report is therefore well informed.

Secondly, the SSRB was rightly concerned that the proposals should ensure that no Member was prevented from attending and playing a full part because of lack of financial resources, and that the diversity of the House should be maintained. The group considered that to be an important principle, and it is obviously relevant to our consideration today. It would make no sense to accumulate so much political experience and other expertise in this House and then to reduce its efficiency, particularly since its Members receive no salary or pension and, to that extent, work for nothing.

Thirdly-my last point about the group's report-we sought to avoid an excessive administrative burden and to ensure that the cost to taxpayers of the financial support to Members was held down to reasonable limits. It was for that reason that we proposed an optional and interim alternative of £100 a night for the overnight allowance. We noted in the report that that would be considerably cheaper and simpler to administer than the current arrangements. Indeed, we estimated that the combined effect of the SSRB proposals and the £100 a night interim allowance would reduce the current cost to the taxpayer by about £2 million.

These points underlying the ad hoc group's report are still important for the decisions today, which I now turn to. Evidently, the move to a daily allowance system, which began with the SSRB proposal of a single fee of £200 a day to cover daily subsistence and all office and secretarial costs, is now being completed-changed, I accept-by the proposal to do away with overnight subsistence and to combine the daily subsistence, the overnight subsistence and the office costs elements in a single flat rate of £300 to which Members are entitled on the basis of attendance. There are some obvious advantages in this change, notably that attendance is already checked, the scheme would be very simple to operate and the administrative cost to the taxpayer would be very low. I think we should accept the proposal, which we would accept to remain in place for the duration of the present Parliament.

Finally, I turn briefly to travel, where an expense system based on receipts or the travel card is to be retained. Having attended Sessions of the House for 11 years, every day or a very large number of days in every Session, and travelling 330 miles by rail each week for the past 11 years to work here, I should say that travel is a large part of my life, so I gave some attention to this. I know that some Members, notably the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, have long and hard journeys and would have preferred to retain the present system, or at least the SSRB proposal, which involved first-class travel if working. However, in this area we have, of course, to pay attention to the new rules for Members of the House of Commons, and I therefore accept the House Committee's proposal that reimbursement of train travel should be limited to the ceiling cost of a standard open ticket. If all the proposals presented to us today are accepted, and I hope that they will be, and we look back later at expenditure and financial support, I suggest that the main factor will be the extent to which any savings are offset by the increased number of new Peers, who will no doubt be attending and contributing greatly to the continued high performance of the House.