Simon Hart
Main Page: Simon Hart (Conservative - Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire)Department Debates - View all Simon Hart's debates with the Leader of the House
(13 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)
1. What progress has been made on the creation of a liaison group between hon. Members and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)
My hon. Friend will be aware of your statement on this matter yesterday, Mr Speaker. I welcome the initiative, and I understand that the liaison group will meet soon.
Simon Hart
At present, IPSA costs the taxpayer more than its predecessor and employs one member of staff for every nine Members of Parliament. Its bureaucracy is so complicated that it takes staff roughly 1,700 calls a week to unravel its complexities. Does the Leader of the House consider that to be progress, and could he do the taxpayer a great service by offering assistance in haste to the parliamentary standards—
Mr Speaker
Order. I think we have got the gist of it, but the hon. Gentleman’s question was too long.