Attorney General: Redundancy Pay

(asked on 13th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2023 to Question 4982, whether the three other severance payments to Ministers made since 2015 were recorded in her Department's annual reports and accounts.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 24th January 2024

I would like to thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this matter to our attention. Due to an oversight in the administrative process by officials, these three payments were not disclosed in the 2022-23 HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Report and Accounts. The payments will be properly reflected in the 2023-24 HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Report and Accounts, in line with prevailing guidance on departmental accounts.

In the interests of transparency, I can confirm that in the 2022-23 period, the following payments were made:

My right hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk) - £14,490 (August 2022)

My hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Edward Timpson) - £14,490 (October 2022)

My right hon. Friend the Member for Northampton North (Sir Michael Ellis) - £23,612 (November 2022)

All three severance payments were made under the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, which provides for severance payments to Ministers who cease to hold office and are not reappointed to the government within 3 weeks. This reflects the lack of any notice period when Ministers leave government.

I would note that such statutory provisions have existed across governments of all political colours.

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