House of Commons: Working Hours
(asked on 15th September 2015) - View Source
Question
To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 9407, what the average cost per hour is of late sittings of the House.
A late sitting can refer to either an occasion when the House sits beyond its likely scheduled rise (i.e. 10.30pm on Monday, 7.30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5.30pm on Thursday); or whenever the House sits beyond 10.00pm.
Two types of payments are made to staff in order to support evening sittings, including late sittings: the Unsocial Hours Payment (UHP), an annual flat-rate allowance paid across the year to staff required to work to an unspecified time during evening sittings; and the Evening Additional Hours (EAH) payment which reflects the number of additional hours worked after 6pm, paid at a standard rate from 1800 to 2230 and at a higher rate after 2230. Additionally, in certain circumstances overtime may be paid to staff which may or may not be related to the House’s sitting hours. These payments are not reflected in this answer as the records do not indicate in which circumstances they were made to support late sittings. A late night taxi service is provided to staff who are required to work late; this service is only available after 2300.
Security staff are employed by the Metropolitan Police Service and are paid in accordance with their terms and conditions of employment.
The costs of UHP, EAH and the late night taxi service in each year since 2010–11 was as follows:
Year | Unsocial Hours Allowance* | Evening hours payment* | Travel Costs | Total Cost |
2010–2011 | £373,409.48 | £473,171.13 | £376,892.69 | £1,223,473.29 |
2011–2012 | £345,556.57 | £503,810.57 | £369,859.62 | £1,219,226.77 |
2012–2013 | £334,516.90 | £433,007.60 | £264,314.70 | £1,031,839.20 |
2013–2014 | £333,091.84 | £412,079.02 | £239,546.70 | £984,717.56 |
2014–2015 | £367,756.14 | £341,638.12 | £141,814.10 | £851,208.36 |
Total | £1,754,303.93 | £2,163,706.44 | £1,392,427.81 | £5,310,465.18 |
* Inclusive of NI and pension contributions
It is not possible meaningfully to equate these staffing costs related to evening sittings to an average overall cost per hour of late night sittings for two reasons: firstly, costs for other types of marginal expenditure related to late sittings, such as utilities charges, are not recorded separately; secondly, the staffing costs are paid to facilitate all sittings after 6.00pm, rather than “late” sittings specifically, whether defined as after 10.00pm or beyond the likely scheduled rise.