Parliaments: Costs Question Asked by Viscount Tenby 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 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon) 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