Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the transparency of the governance arrangements for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is accountable to the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (SCIPSA). SCIPSA has oversight of IPSA’s governance arrangements and its stewardship of its resources. SCIPSA is a statutory body whose role is defined by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, as amended by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

The 2009 Act specifies the composition and powers of IPSA’s governing body, its board. IPSA’s board sets out the strategic vision for IPSA and approves its corporate plan and annual report and accounts, reviews the performance of the organisation, holds the executive to account and is responsible for determining schemes of MPs’ pay, pensions and business costs. The Board is statutorily responsible for the decisions about the regulation of MPs’ pay, pensions and business costs and therefore has collective responsibility for those decisions.

IPSA's board publishes minutes of all its meetings, consults widely on proposals for remuneration and Scheme rules, and is required to be transparent in its use of public funds by virtue of the 2009 Act.

As part of its statutory functions, the Speaker’s Committee reviews IPSA's annual estimates of the resources IPSA needs and must ensure these are consistent with the efficient and cost-effective discharge of IPSA's functions, before an estimate is laid before the House. The Committee takes into account any advice received from the Treasury as part of this process. If the Committee does not consider an estimate meets this test, then it has the power to seek modification of an estimate, in which case it must report its reasons for doing so to the House.

At several points throughout the year SCIPSA meets IPSA to assess its performance, running costs and effectiveness in handling MPs’ staffing and business costs. The Committee last met IPSA in a public session on 22 January. A transcript of that session is available on the Committee’s website:

https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/15257/pdf/

The Committee is expected to hold its next meeting with IPSA on 11 March to consider its draft main estimate for 2025/26. This will be a public meeting and a recording of the session will be made available on Parliament Live. Later in the year the Committee will consider IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25 at which point it will assess IPSA’s latest results against its performance indicators.

In addition, the Speaker’s Committee has a statutory function to consider the Speaker’s selection, on the basis of fair and open competition, of IPSA’s board members. IPSA’s Chair is supported by four Board members, all of whom are appointed by SCIPSA. They are made up of a former MP, a statutory auditor, a former holder of high judicial office, and one other.

In 2010, lay members were added to the Committee. The role of the lay member is to help promote greater transparency and independence in the Speaker’s Committee’s operations and to help support oversight of IPSA’s governance arrangements.