Administration

Jo Swinson
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2009, Official Report, column 935W, what assessment the House of Commons Commission has made of the merits of the (a) accounting and administration systems for and (b) systems for provision of information to the public on hon. Members' expenses in place in the (i) Scottish Parliament and (ii) National Assembly for Wales; and whether the Commission has considered adopting elements of those systems for use by the House authorities.

Nick Harvey
The Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales operate systems of allowances and governance that differ from those that apply in the House of Commons. In the case of the provision of information, the Scottish Parliament is subject to separate access to information legislation and associated scrutiny. In reaching its own decisions in relation both to the administration of Members' allowances and publication of information about them the Members Estimate Committee has drawn on a range of sources including the other UK legislatures and Assemblies. For example the Committee drew extensively on the experience of the Scottish Parliament in its Review of Allowances (HC 578) published in June 2008.