Independent Parliamentary
Standards Authority
4th Floor
30 Millbank
London
SW1P 4DU.
T 020 7811 6400
Damien Quigg
Via email
Our ref: CAS-29385
23 October 2015
Dear Mr Quigg,
Thank you for your email of 27 September 2015 in which you requested information relating
to MPs’ salaries, business costs and expenses. Your request has been handled under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
I will address your requests in turn.
1. The percentage of salary contributed from the public purse to each MP's pension for
each of the following years:
(i) 2010-11
(ii) 2011-12
(iii) 2012-13
(iv) 2013-14
(v) 2014-15
The Exchequer’s share of the cost of MPs’ pensions can be found within a consultation
document on MPs’ pay and pensions that we published in October 2012, availab
le via this
link. Table 10 at page 71 of the document provides a breakdown of the historical costs of the
MPs’ pension scheme.
The Exchequer contribution rate was reviewed by the Government Actuary in 2014, and the
amendments were implemented in 2015. Further information on the review can be found in
the Government Actuary’s Departmen
t’s 2014 valuation of the Parliamentary Contributory
Pension Fund (PCPF).
IPSA is responsible for making a pension scheme for MPs, which the House of Commons
Pensions Unit administers, through the PCPF. It is made up of two schemes – the MPs’
Pension Scheme and also a scheme for Ministers called the Ministerial Pension Scheme.
Further information on the PCPF can be found on the Fund’s website:
http://www.mypcpfpension.co.uk/. A House of Commons Library Paper on the MPs’ Pension Scheme provides full details on the
Scheme and its history, and can be found
via this link. The FOIA states that information that is accessible by other means is not subject to release.
Therefore, as the information you have requested is already available on our website, it is
exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by
other means).
2. Are additional salary payments e.g. committee chair, included in the contribution
calculation, or is the contribution based on base salary only?
Additional salary payments are included in the contribution calculation.
There is a separate pension scheme for Government Ministers. Further information about
that scheme can be found in a House of Commons Library Pap
er, via this link.
3. In relation to the financial years from 2013-14 onwards, if an MP accidentally
exceeds their annual spending budget, what actions if any are taken by IPSA to
recover the overspend?
The
MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’) provides different budgets
to MPs against which they can claim the costs of legitimate business costs and expenses
incurred in the exercise of their parliamentary functions. A summary of these budgets,
including the relevant budget limits, can be found at Annex A of the Scheme. The Scheme
can be found in full on our website
, via this link. Prior to the 2014-15 financial year, MPs were permitted, on occasion, to roll forward
amounts incurred into subsequent financial years. Since 2014-15, this has not been
permitted. Guidance on overspends can be found at pages 14, 16 and 17 of the Scheme, a
link to which is provided above.
Each month, every MP is sent a financial statement summarising their current financial
position alongside a projection for each budget for the rest of the financial year. If, at the
end of the year, an MP has exceeded a budget limit, they are required to repay the
overspend to IPSA.
4. (a). Are MP's subject to UK employment law when recruiting "connected parties"?
(b) If not, under what clause are they exempt from UK employment law?
(c) Assuming MP's are subject to UK employment law, does IPSA collect or witness
the relevant information?
(d) If IPSA does not collect or witness the relevant information, why not?
(e) If IPSA does collect the relevant information, please provide copies for each of the
following years:
(i) 2010-11
(ii) 2011-12
(iii) 2012-13
(iv) 2013-14
(v) 2014-15
Under the Scheme, Staffing Expenditure may only be claimed for the salary of one employee
who is a connected party, unless an MP employed more than one connected party on 7 May
2010. You can find a full copy of the Scheme on our w
ebsite, by following this link. For the purposes of the Scheme, a connected party is defined as:
a. a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner of the member;
b. parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the
member or of a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner of the member; or
c. a body corporate, a firm or a trust with which the MP is connected as defined in
section 252 of the Companies Act 2006.
MPs are the legal employers of their staff and are subject to all relevant employment
legislation. MPs, as the employers, are wholly responsible for recruitment.
In accordance with our publication policy, we publish the names, job titles and salary bands
of all connected parties employed by MPs on our publication website, at the following
address:
http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk/AnnualisedData.aspx.
5. I have searched your website and cannot find any reference to roles for each of the
MP's staff as decided by IPSA. Please provide copies of the same.
Job titles, pay ranges and key responsibilities for staff employed by MPs and paid by IPSA
under the Scheme can be found on our website at the following address:
http://parliamentarystandards.org.uk/Job%20Description/Documents/MP%20staff%20JDs%
20spreadsheet%2015%20-%2016.pdf. Job descriptions can be produced by MPs on our website at the following address:
http://parliamentarystandards.org.uk/Job%20Description.
6. (a). Who sets the salaries for MP's staff and on what basis are pay increases
awarded?
(b) When pay increases are awarded, are they applicable to all members of staff in
the same role?
For each job role, IPSA sets salary ranges (dependent upon whether the employee is based
in London or outside London). It is then the responsibility of the MP to set the precise salary
within the range. The MP, as the employer, can award a pay increase at any point of their
choosing as long as there is enough money remaining in the MP’s staffing budget. It is the
responsibility of the MP to set the specific salaries of individual staff members.
7. Please provide information as to which government department are responsible for
each of the following public expenses relating to MP's:
(i) Ministers pay
(ii) Ministers expenses
(iii) Ministers pension contributions
(iv) All other costs associated with ministers in the execution of their duties
(v) All expenses associated with members of the House of Lords
Costs relating to Government Ministers are administered by the Cabinet Office. Their FOI
team can be contacted at the following address:
https://www.gov.uk/contact/foi. Costs relating to the House of Lords are administered by the House of Lords. You can find
out about how to obtain information from the Lords at the following address:
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/lords/freedom-of-information-in-
the-house-of-lords/lords-foi-how-to-obtain-information/. If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an internal review. The internal
review will be carried out by someone who was not involved in the original decision, and
who will assess the handling of the original request.
If you wish to request an internal review, please write to IPSA within two months of the date
of this letter, at the following address:
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
4th Floor
30 Millbank
London
SW1P 4DU.
Or by email to:
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under Section 50 of the FOIA. You may contact the
ICO at the following address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Or you may wish to visit th
e ICO’s website. Yours sincerely,
Chris Veck
Freedom of Information Officer
