Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what the (a) total and (b) per Member cost of the House of (i) Lords and (ii) Commons was in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
This information is not held centrally.
The basic annual salary for an MP from 1st April 2023 is £86,584. MPs also receive expenses to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having somewhere to live in London or their constituency, and travelling between Parliament and their constituency. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) which was created in 2009 by the Parliamentary Standards Act, is responsible for setting and regulating MPs’ salaries, pensions, business costs and expenses. IPSA is quite rightly independent of Parliament and the Government. At the end of each financial year, IPSA publishes an annual report and accounts which can be found on IPSA’s website (https://www.theipsa.org.uk/annual-reports).
Most members of the House of Lords do not receive a salary for their parliamentary duties but are eligible to receive allowances and, within certain limits, the travel expenses they incur in fulfilling their parliamentary duties. The House of Lords publishes quarterly data on the claims made by Peers which can be found on the Parliament website (https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/whos-in-the-house-of-lords/house-of-lords-expenses/)
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many statutory instruments (a) required correction slips and (b) were (i) made and (ii) issued under the free issue procedure between 2006 and 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The National Archives is responsible for determining the publishing costs of legislation, and for operating the correction slip and free issue process on behalf of the Government.
Departments pay a publishing fee for each correction slip or free issue Statutory Instrument (SI). Since January 2019, the publishing costs have been as follows:
SI publishing fee - £305
Explanatory Memoranda (if relevant) - £145
Impact Assessment (if relevant) - £55
Correction slip - £20.50
Issuing an SI under the free issue procedure incurs a cost on top of the SI publishing fee. The average additional cost for issuing an SI under the free issue procedure is £39.90.
The distribution of the SI also incurs a cost. If an SI is issued free of charge due to an error in an earlier SI, The Stationery Office (TSO) will identify everyone who bought a copy of the original SI and arrange for them to receive a free copy of the new version, paid for by the department. The cost of this will vary for each SI.
The number of SIs between 2006 and 2016 that required correction slips and were made and issued under the free issue procedure is as follows:
Year | Number of UKSIs made that year | Correction slips issued for made UKSIs | Number of UKSIs issued under the free issue procedure |
2006 | 1554 | 110 | 48 |
2007 | 1639 | 121 | 53 |
2008 | 1483 | 127 | 51 |
2009 | 1817 | 112 | 68 |
2010 | 2801 | 76 | 51 |
2011 | 2808 | 63 | 38 |
2012 | 3002 | 74 | 31 |
2013 | 2969 | 79 | 24 |
2014 | 3131 | 49 | 38 |
2015 | 1743 | 42 | 41 |
2016 | 948 | 64 | 23 |
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what the average cost to the public purse is for (a) issuing a correction slip for a statutory instrument and (b) statutory instruments (i) made and (ii) issued under the free issue procedure.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The National Archives is responsible for determining the publishing costs of legislation, and for operating the correction slip and free issue process on behalf of the Government.
Departments pay a publishing fee for each correction slip or free issue Statutory Instrument (SI). Since January 2019, the publishing costs have been as follows:
SI publishing fee - £305
Explanatory Memoranda (if relevant) - £145
Impact Assessment (if relevant) - £55
Correction slip - £20.50
Issuing an SI under the free issue procedure incurs a cost on top of the SI publishing fee. The average additional cost for issuing an SI under the free issue procedure is £39.90.
The distribution of the SI also incurs a cost. If an SI is issued free of charge due to an error in an earlier SI, The Stationery Office (TSO) will identify everyone who bought a copy of the original SI and arrange for them to receive a free copy of the new version, paid for by the department. The cost of this will vary for each SI.
The number of SIs between 2006 and 2016 that required correction slips and were made and issued under the free issue procedure is as follows:
Year | Number of UKSIs made that year | Correction slips issued for made UKSIs | Number of UKSIs issued under the free issue procedure |
2006 | 1554 | 110 | 48 |
2007 | 1639 | 121 | 53 |
2008 | 1483 | 127 | 51 |
2009 | 1817 | 112 | 68 |
2010 | 2801 | 76 | 51 |
2011 | 2808 | 63 | 38 |
2012 | 3002 | 74 | 31 |
2013 | 2969 | 79 | 24 |
2014 | 3131 | 49 | 38 |
2015 | 1743 | 42 | 41 |
2016 | 948 | 64 | 23 |
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 June 2023 on Members of Parliament: Risk-based Exclusion, Official Report column 83, who she is bringing in to advise her on these matters.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is carefully considering this appointment to ensure that an adviser has the necessary expertise and shall provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what proportion of Prime Minister's Questions were attended by each of the last five Prime Ministers.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
This information is not held centrally.
I refer the hon. member to the research briefing provided by the House of Commons Library (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04401/).
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 June 2023, Official Report, column 83, what recent progress she has made on appointing an adviser on standards.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is carefully considering this appointment to ensure that an adviser has the necessary expertise and shall provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many oral statements the Rt Hon Member for Richmond (Yorks) has made to the House of Commons in each of the last five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
This information is not held centrally. I would refer the hon. member to the House of Commons Library service.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 June 2023 on Members of Parliament: Risk-based Exclusion, Offical Report, column 110, whether she plans for the new cross-party forum to consider proposals on the transparency of political donations.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Transparency of funding is a key cornerstone of the UK’s existing electoral system. There is already an established framework which requires the political parties to record all donations, and certain donations must be reported to the Electoral Commission. This includes donations from impermissible donors, and also donations from the same permissible source that amount to over £7,500 in one calendar year. For transparency, donation reports are published online by the Electoral Commission for public scrutiny.
The terms of reference for the cross-party forum will be agreed in due course.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many Statutory instruments required (a) correcting and (b) replacing in the last five sessions.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Correction slips are used to correct typographical errors. A statutory instrument (SI) containing a substantive error must be replaced by amending secondary legislation. This is issued under the free issue procedure, further information on which can be found at page 128 of the National Archives’ Statutory Instrument Practice (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/pdfs/StatutoryInstrumentPractice_5th_Edition.pdf).
The National Archives holds information on SI statistics by calendar year. Information from 2016 to 2022, which covers the last five parliamentary sessions, is provided below.
Correction slips issued for made SIs | Number of SIs made and issued under the free issue procedure | |
|---|---|---|
2022 | 67 | 66 |
2021 | 67 | 112 |
2020 | 96 | 77 |
2019 | 95 | 57 |
2018 | 63 | 35 |
2017 | 71 | 30 |
2016 | 64 | 23 |
Information on SIs replacing legislation not issued under the free issue procedure is not held centrally. To provide this information would therefore incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what the average number of clauses in government bills that received Royal Assent was in the last five sessions.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
In the last five sessions, the following number of Government Bills reached Royal Assent:
Session | Number of Bills reaching Royal Assent |
|---|---|
2021-22 | 34 |
2019-21 | 44 |
2019 | 3 |
2017-19 | 51 |
2016-17 | 32 |
The average number of clauses in Government Bills that received Royal Assent in that period is not held centrally. To provide this information would therefore incur disproportionate cost.
The full text of each Government Act from each of the last five sessions is available on legislation.gov.uk.