New Clause 20
Greater London Authority Bill
11:45 am
Andrew Pelling (Croydon Central, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once again, Lady Winterton. I am cognisant that there are still further clauses for consideration, so I shall attempt to be brief in speaking on clauses for the rest of the day.
A good deal of attention was given to abatement of GLA members’ salaries when the Greater London Authority Act 1999 was considered. The then Minister for London, the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford), when pressed by the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes), gave good guidance on the issue of MPs drawing full pay, either as members of the London assembly or indeed as Mayor, for two public posts. He said:
“It is proper that people should not be paid from the public purse for performing two functions without an abatement of their salaries.”—[Official Report, 4 November 1999; Vol. 323, c. 568.]
I must declare an interest in the matter as a member of the London assembly. Currently, assembly members who are Members of Parliament receive two thirds of the normal salary—they are abated by a third. Indeed, the finance officer of the GLA, the excellent Anne McMeel, was in my office the day after the general election to advise me of the good news that the abatement would take place. She gave the information with great enthusiasm. At least there was some saving for the London authority.
What has changed since the 1999 Act is that, quite properly, we have seen a significant increase in allowances for members of local authorities. That is most justified by the work that they do. Allowances for executive council members are now realistic in reflecting the amount of work done under the stronger executive model pursued by the Government. Thus by changes under the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances)(England) Regulations 2001, following the guidance from Professor Malcolm Grant in his brief, “Making allowances: the remuneration of councillors in London”, and in work currently being done by Rodney Brooke CBE, significant allowances are now being paid to councillors. In London, under the current recommendation, the basic rate is £10,000: in some councils the rate is above that and in others it is below. However, payments for executive members can be anything from £32,000 to £51,000 per year. An executive member of a local authority who also sits as a London assembly member could receive some £100,000 a year from the public purse. It might be worth considering whether, in the changed circumstances since the 1999 Act, the abatement should also apply to senior executive members—not ordinary back-bench-level councillors or people chairing the licensing committee—who should be providing such a saving to the public purse.