Members' Salaries and Allowances

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 11:50 pm on 21 July 1987.

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Resolved, That, in the opinion of this House, the following provision should be made with respect to the salaries of Members of this House—(a) the salaries of Members not falling within paragraph (b) shall, in respect of service in 1988 or any subsequent year, be at a yearly rate equal to 89 perThat, in the opinion of this House—(a) the allowance payable to a Member of this House in respect of the aggregate expenses incurred by him for his Parliamentary duties—

  1. (i) as general office expenses (including expenses incurred in the purchase of office equipment),
  2. (ii) on secretarial assistance, and
  3. (iii) on research assistance for work undertaken in the proper performance of such duties,
should be known as the office costs allowance:
  1. (b) the limit on the office costs allowance should be determined as follows —
    1. (i) for the year ending with 31 st March 1988, the limit should be £20,140,
    2. (ii) for the year ending with 31 st March 1989, the limit should be the greater of the following amounts, namely the amount obtained by increasing £19,500 by the relevant percentage and £20,140,
    3. (iii) for any subsequent year, the limit should be the amount obtained by increasing the limit applicable to the immediately preceding year by the relevant percentage (so that, if the relevant percentage for any year is nil, the limit remains the same for that year);
  2. (c) the arrangements approved by Mr. Speaker pursuant to paragraph (b) of the second Resolution of 19th July 1983 (payments by Fees Office in respect of secretarial and research assistance) should include arrangements for securing that, before any salary or fee is paid to any person in respect of his employment by the Member concerned, the Member—
    1. (i) in the case of a person by law entitled to receive a written statement of the main terms and conditions of that employment, has furnished the Fees Office with a copy of any such statement and has furnished the Fees Office and that person with a statement containing a job description relating to that employment, or
    2. (ii) in the case of any other person, has furnished the Fees Office and that person with a statement containing a job description relating to that employment and has either included in that statement details of that person's pay and hours of work or furnished the Fees Office with a copy of a written contract relating to that employment,
together with arrangements for securing that, before any other payment is made in respect of services provided by any person, the Member concerned has furnished the Fees Office with invoices specifying the services in question;(d) the limit applicable to the sums referred to in paragraph (b) of the third Resolution of 5th June 1981 (pension contributions for Members' secretaries and research assistants) should, for the year ending with 31st March 1988 and any subsequent year, be equal to—
  1. (i) 10 per cent, of the salary, or (as the case may be) of the aggregate amount of the salaries, payable for that year to the person or persons in respect of whom any such sums are paid, or
  2. (ii) 10 per cent, of the amount which is the limit for that year on the office costs allowance,
whichever is less.cent, of the rate which on 1st January in that year represents the maximum point on the main national pay scale for Grade 6 officers in the Home Civil Service, or if that scale ceases to exist on the scale which for the time being replaces it (disregarding, in either case, any discretionary pay point on that scale); and(b) the salaries of Officers of this House and Members receiving a salary under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 or a pension under section 26 of the Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1972 shall, in respect of service in 1988 or any subsequent year, be at a yearly rate equal to 67 per cent, of the rate which on 1st January in that year represents the maximum point referred to in paragraph (a).