Question
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of maintaining (a) the House of Commons; (b) the House of Lords; and (c) the European Parliament, with the cost to the United Kingdom separately identified, including (1) salaries, pensions travelling allowances, secretarial expenses for Members; (2) salaries, allowances and pensions and other costs of supporting staff; (3) accommodation, including rent, operating costs and security; and (4) all other administrative costs such as stationery, office equipment, publications, payments to parliamentary bodies and other relevant outgoings for 2008–09 and the previous three financial years. [HL4954]
The information requested is set out in the table below. The House of Commons and House of Lords have provided data relating to costs on a resource basis, consistent with their resource accounts. This data replaces the information detailed in the Answer given to the noble Viscount on 24 June 2008, Official Report col. WA234-5.
House of Lords £ 000s 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 Salaries, pensions, for Members (a) 18,988 18,399 17,718 15,613 Salaries and pensions for admin staff 22,964 20,976 19,651 16,547 Accommodation costs, including rent, operating costs and security 24,834 23,405 28,692 28,180 Other administration costs (b) 39,754 89,772 41,008 49,839 Total 106,540 152,552 107,069 110,179 House of Commons £ 000s 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 Salaries, pensions, for Members (c) 157,228 151,341 143,944 147,410 Salaries and pensions for admin staff (d) 76,985 74,451 65,420 60,099 Accommodation costs, including rent, operating costs and security (e) 94,896 94,718 89,442 91,812 Other administration costs (f) 62,715 58,716 55,746 168,648 Total 391,824 379,226 354,552 467,969
Notes:
(a) Members of the House of Lords do not receive a salary but are entitled to reclaim reimbursement of expenses. This figure includes Members’ expenses.
(b) Includes non-cash and capital expenditure.
(c) Figures from resource accounts: Member salaries & pensions, staffing allowance, incidental expenses provision, additional costs allowance, communications allowance (from 1 April 2007), travel, contribution to Members’ staff pensions, temporary secretarial assistance, staff redundancy and winding-up allowance only.
(d) Cost of House staff salaries taken from the resource accounts.
(e) Accommodation costs taken from resource accounts include buildings rental, accommodation services and security, depreciation on land and buildings, and cost of capital charge.
(f) This figure is the net resource outturn less (b) and (c). The figure for 2005-06 includes a technical accounting adjustment on the pension provision worth £115.7 million.
The resource costs shown on accommodation services fluctuate depending on the type of projects undertaken during the year.
European Parliament
The European Parliament outtum figures for calendar years 2005, 2006 and 2007, and budget figures for 2008 and 2009 can be found on the European Parliament website(g).
(g) European Parliament budget information can be found on their website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public/staticDisplay.do?Ianquage=EN&id=153