Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Ministers do not receive a ministerial salary sitting in (1) the House of Commons, and (2) the House of Lords; and how many of these are beyond the scope of the statutory limitation on the maximum number of Ministers who may be paid ministerial salaries.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A list of all government ministers is on gov.uk at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers. This details whether ministers are paid or unpaid.
The Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 sets a statutory limit on the number of ministerial salaries of 109. There are currently 108 paid ministers, 1 minister paid by the Labour Party, and 10 unpaid ministers.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether current or proposed guidance to Ministers on accepting gifts or entertainment applies to Ministers who are not in receipt of ministerial salaries.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Guiding principles for ministers on accepting gifts and hospitality are set out in the Ministerial Code. The Code applies to all government ministers.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether secondary legislation could be used to increase the number of ministers that can be paid in order that all ministers receive the relevant current rate, and if not how might this be done.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The payment of ministerial salaries is governed by the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act (MOSA) 1975. To answer these questions, we have treated ministers who hold more than one office (“joint ministers”) but are paid only for one as paid ministers, and therefore have counted only those ministers who do not receive a salary under MOSA.
There are currently 108 ministers who receive a government salary. The current number of ministers in total is 125, meaning that 17 are unpaid, 3 in the House of Commons and 14 in the House of Lords.
If the 17 unpaid ministers were to claim a ministerial salary on the same basis as those who receive a salary the additional sum payable would be £1,146,358 per annum, excluding pension contributions. We have counted the Party Chair, the Rt Hon Richard Holden MP in these calculations, as he is unpaid by the government. He is, however, by convention paid by the party.
Primary legislation would be required to increase the number of ministers entitled to receive a salary to include the 17 ministers who are currently unpaid. Secondary legislation in the form of an Order in Council under the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 may be used to increase the rate at which ministerial salaries are payable.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many ministers in each House receive a government ministerial salary, and how many receive none; and what the total extra cost of paying all ministers the relevant current rate would be.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The payment of ministerial salaries is governed by the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act (MOSA) 1975. To answer these questions, we have treated ministers who hold more than one office (“joint ministers”) but are paid only for one as paid ministers, and therefore have counted only those ministers who do not receive a salary under MOSA.
There are currently 108 ministers who receive a government salary. The current number of ministers in total is 125, meaning that 17 are unpaid, 3 in the House of Commons and 14 in the House of Lords.
If the 17 unpaid ministers were to claim a ministerial salary on the same basis as those who receive a salary the additional sum payable would be £1,146,358 per annum, excluding pension contributions. We have counted the Party Chair, the Rt Hon Richard Holden MP in these calculations, as he is unpaid by the government. He is, however, by convention paid by the party.
Primary legislation would be required to increase the number of ministers entitled to receive a salary to include the 17 ministers who are currently unpaid. Secondary legislation in the form of an Order in Council under the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 may be used to increase the rate at which ministerial salaries are payable.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a reason why the meeting of the Accession Council on the death of the Sovereign needs to be held in St James’ Palace.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps were taken to inform members of the Privy Council that they had been unsuccessful in the ballot to attend the meeting of the Accession Council on the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Privy Counsellors who applied to enter the ballot to attend the meeting of the Accession Council and were unsuccessful were advised individually of the outcome by the Privy Council Office shortly after the ballot was conducted.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many members of the Privy Council were put into the ballot for the Accession Council on the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; and how many of those entered in the ballot received an invitation.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
All Privy Counsellors who were not eligible to attend the Accession Council on an ex officio basis were invited to apply by ballot for a summons to attend the Accession Council. The ballot was conducted on an annual basis and took place in April 2022. A total of 236 Privy Counsellors chose to apply this year; all of those who applied were entered into the ballot. Thirty summonses were available in this year’s ballot.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many members of the Privy Council were given an automatic invitation to the Accession Council on the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; and what criteria they used in choosing them.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
A total of 158 Privy Counsellors were eligible on an ex-officio basis to be summonsed to attend the Accession Council on 10th September 2022.
The criteria for ex-officio eligibility was based primarily on whether individuals were serving in a senior parliamentary, judicial or Church post at the time of Demise. Privy Counsellors selected using this criteria included the Great Offices and Great Officers of State; Cabinet ministers; the Leader of the Opposition; shadow Cabinet Ministers who are Privy Counsellors; the Archbishops of Canterbury and York; leaders of the political parties in the House of Commons; the First Ministers of the Devolved Governments; the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker; and representatives of the senior judiciary.
Former Prime Ministers, former Lord Presidents, former Archbishops, and Privy Counsellors who were formerly leaders of political parties in the House of Commons were also summonsed to attend on an ex-officio basis.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what constraints are imposed on ministers who receive no ministerial salary in relation to their capacity to receive non-Parliamentary income.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
All Ministers are subject to the Ministerial Code, which provides guidance to Ministers on how they should act and arrange their affairs in order to uphold the standards set out in the Code.
Under the terms of the Code, Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise.
Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in the light of the Code and for justifying their actions and conduct to Parliament and the public.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many special advisers were engaged with supporting the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office in (1) 1995, (2) 2005, (3) 2015, and (4) currently.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Information about special advisers is published on GOV.UK.
To assist the noble Lord:
the 2021 data is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002880/Annual_Report_on_Special_Advisers_2021_-_Online_Publication.pdf,
the 2015 data is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486829/List_of_Special_Advisers_in_post_at_17_December_2015.pdf,
the 2005 data is available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo050721/wmstext/50721m12.htm,
and the 1995 data is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/336889/9th_report.pdf.
Special advisers only represented 0.06 per cent of the Civil Service pay bill in 2021. They protect the integrity and impartiality of the civil service by clearly separating out the provision of political advice to Ministers.