Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will make an estimate of the annual cost of administering Westminster Hall Debates including clerks, doorkeepers and other staff.

The total number of annual sitting hours for Westminster Hall debates vary with the last four parliamentary sessions below:

• 2021–22 666 (12-month Session)
• 2022–23 949 (18-month Session)
• 2023–24 415 (6-month Session)
• 2024–26 1,297 (21-month Session)

The estimate below is based on the direct cost of facilitating Westminster Hall during sitting hours. In addition members of staff on duty in Westminster Hall will be on rotas and have other responsibilities which account for the majority of their time. Staffing numbers have been estimated below for a typical sitting week of 16 hours across 39 weeks.

In some cases, there will be additional time required outside of the sittings themselves, for example Senior Doorkeepers need additional time to set up, and it takes Parliamentary reporters approximately 45 minutes to transcribe each five minutes of debate. The broadcast operator and microphone operator costs are covered by the broader broadcasting contract, which make it difficult to give a true cost and these figures are therefore estimates based on known half day rates.

The estimated number of weekly hours from each of the following roles has been listed in the table below. These do not represent individual postholders, but instead the total number of hours that would be completed by several people all on rotas. As an example, there are 22 Clerks on a fortnightly rota, so each individual completes an average slot of only 80 minutes once per fortnight, and this forms only a small part of their substantive role.

On that basis annual staffing costs could be estimated at £440k. Indirect costs, not included above include building costs, printing, security and IT provision.