Download or read book Review of Parliamentary Pay and Pensions written by John Baker and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government asked Sir John Baker to review the options for determining MPs' remuneration and to identify an independent mechanism for doing so in future. This followed a Senior Salaries Review Body report on parliamentary pay (2008, Cm. 7270, ISBN 9780101727020). Sir John recommends that the current Senior Salaries Review Body should become the independent body which determines MPs' pay, conduct reviews every four years or so. Consideration should be given to securing its independence by Government undertaking or statute. Pay should be uprated annually by the three month average Public Sector Average Earnings Index on 1 April, using the published PSAEI figure for January of that year. MPs' salary with effect from 1 April 2008 should be £64,634 (an increase of 3.5 per cent plus £650 - this latter sum being that identified in the SSRB report to start bringing the pay into line with the earnings of the public sector comparators). The salary should increase again by the PSAEI annual percentage plus £650 on 1 April 2009 and again on 1 April 2010, thereafter by the PSAEI annual percentage. The independent body should consider MPs' pension arrangements bearing in mind the unusual career pattern of MPs and the evolution of pensions in the public sector and the wider economy. The London supplement for London MPs should be increased to £3,623 with effect from 1 April 2008. Sir John is concerned that the new mechanism achieves the support and trust of MPs, Government and the public. His recommendations are a balanced package which removes the need for MPs to vote on their own pay. He offers alternative pay progression and periodic realignment options should MPS feel the suggested increases are presentationally and politically difficult to accept in the current economic climate.
Download or read book Review Body on Senior Salaries written by Great Britain: Review Body on Senior Salaries and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-16 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report by the Review Body on Senior Salaries makes 34 recommendations for parliamentary pay arrangements and allowances for 2007, covering both the House of Commons and House of Lords. Recommendations include: (i) that for 2007 the salaries of MPs be increased by a further 1.9% of the salary payable from 1 November 2006, taking the new salary to £61,820, with the increase backdated to 1 April 2007; that the annual uprating take place on 1 April each year, beginning April 2008; that for 3 years, beginning in April 2008, MPs salaries be increased by £650 a year and that future reviews of parliamentary pay, pensions and expenditure take place at four-yearly intervals; that from 1 April 2007 Ministers in the House of Lords receive the same pecentage increase in their salaries as Ministers of the same rank in the Commons; that the National Audit Office should audit the expenses of a representative sample of MPs each year; that partners of MPs who are named in the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund as sole beneficiaries should be entitled to the same travel arrangements available to spouses and civil partners; that the London Supplement be increased to £3,500, and henceforth adjusted in line with the Public Sector Average Earnings.
Download or read book Review of Allowances written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Members Estimate Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report starts with the Committee's top priority - improving public confidence in the House of Commons by better systems of financial assurance. The House must introduce a robust system of scrutiny for parliamentary allowances. It then sets out the six main categories in which Members' work is supported by the taxpayer: employment of staff; office costs; communicating with constituents and the public; travel; overnight costs; redundancy. In each section, the report describes the current system, proposals for change, experience elsewhere, and the views and advice received. Each section ends with the opinion of the Committee and recommendations for the House to decide. Recommendations include: members should no longer be able to claim reimbursement for furniture and household goods or for capital improvements; the Additional Cost Allowance would be replaced by an overnight expenses allowance of £19,600 a year for accommodation; £30 a day subsistence allowance without receipts, up to a maximum of £4,600 every year; MPs would have to provide receipts for all other expenses from 1 April next year (at the moment they can claim for items up to £25 without receipts).
Download or read book The MPs expenses scheme written by Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-05-05 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Third edition dated May 2011. This document replaces the version of the 3rd edition published in April (HC 890, ISBN 9780102971293) and is being issued free of charge to all known recipients of that earlier version
Download or read book Parliaments and Citizens written by Cristina Leston-Bandeira and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship between parliaments and citizens is one of the least studied subjects in legislative studies, yet this is a crucial dimension to understand parliaments and the role they play in our political systems. Furthermore, this relationship has gained considerable visibility over the last decade thanks in part to the development of new media, but also as a reaction to the trends of political apathy. In a context of increasing political disengagement, parliamentary discourse shifted attention from the traditionally predominant relationship with government to the relationship with citizens. Issues of legitimacy became more directly associated with the link between parliament and citizens, resulting in investment in new and more complex mechanisms for contact with citizens, even in the more centralised systems. This book looks at a wide range of case studies across Europe and beyond, assessing overall strategies in the move towards stronger engagement with citizens. It assesses the extent to which the shift in discourse has led to actual changes in parliamentary practice. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.
Download or read book Conduct of Mr Derek Conway written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee on Standards and Privileges and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-28 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following a memorandum submitted by the former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, this report is a consequence of a complaint against Mr Derek Conway, Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup from a Mr Michael Barnbrook. The complaint concerned the fact that Mr Conway was paying his son £981 a month from his Parliamentary Staffing Allowance while his son was in full-time education at Newcastle University. Also that he had refused to disclose what work his son was doing on his behalf, or the hours his son worked. There appears to be no dispute over the fact Mr Conway employed his younger son as a part-time assistant from 1 September 2004 to 24 August 2007. His job description was based on a standard job description as set out by the Department of Resources (DFA) and his contract of employment provided he worked for 17 hours a week. He was originally employed on a salary of £10,000 per annum, increased to £11,773, which was backdated to the start of his employment. His basic salary was within the pay range set by the DFA. His son was also given four one-off sums, intended as in lieu of an annual salary uprating and bonuses for good work. The Committee has set out the following responses, including: that Mr Conway paid bonuses to his son in excess of the maximum permitted levels between 2005 - 2008; based on the Parliamentary Commissioner's assessment of the duties Mr Conway's son was asked to perform, it was unlikely he required all the contracted hours he was being paid for, the Committee therefore expresses scepticism that Mr Conway's son worked the permitted contracted hours per week; there is no record of the work his son is supposed to have done or a record of the hours kept, so any remuneration given was at the very least an improper use of the Parliamentary allowances, or at worst a serious diversion of public funds; that the salary paid to his son, was therefore a misuse of the Staffing Allowance; that as a consequence Mr Conway should repay the overpaid bonus funds, together with the associated pension contribution; the Committee stated that it regards this case as a serious breach of the rules and recommends Mr Conway be suspended from the service of the House for 10 sitting days, and also apologise to the House for his shortcomings by way of a personal statement.
Download or read book Rewards for High Public Office in Europe and North America written by Marleen Brans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anyone observing the recent scandals in the United Kingdom could not fail to understand the political importance of the rewards of high public office. The British experience has been extreme but by no means unique, and many countries have experienced political over the pay and perquisites of public officials. This book addresses an important element of public governance, and does so in longitudinal and comparative manner. The approach enables the contributors to make a number of key statements not only about the development of political systems but also about the differences among those systems. It provides a unique and systematic investigation of both formal and informal rewards for working in high-level positions in the public sector, and seeks to determine the impacts of the choices of reward structures. Covering 14 countries and drawing on a wide range of data sources, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of comparative public administration, international politics and government.
Download or read book Conduct of Mr Gregory Campbell written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee on Standards and Privileges and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-26 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conduct of Mr Gregory Campbell : Seventh report of session 2006-07, report and appendices, together with formal Minutes
Download or read book Conduct of Mr George Galloway written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee on Standards and Privileges and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-07-17 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines the memorandum produced by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on the outcome of his investigation of complaints against the conduct of Mr George Galloway MP; the text of the memorandum is included as an appendix to the report. The Commissioner's investigation focused on allegations published in a series of articles in the Daily Telegraph in April 2003 that Mr Galloway had received substantial undeclared personal financial benefits from the former Iraqi regime ran by Saddam Hussein by way of the UN Oil for Food programme, and that in doing so he had breached the Commons' rules on registration of interests and the Commons' Code of Conduct. The Commissioner's inquiry has been one of the most complex undertaken and of unparalleled duration, having been delayed by legal proceedings. The Committee's report finds that Mr Galloway's use of parliamentary facilities in connection with the Mariam Appeal went beyond what is reasonable and that he should have registered his interests in the Mariam Appeal and all donations it received above the specified threshold. It also finds that there is strong circumstantial evidence that the former Iraqi Government funded the campaigning activities of the Mariam Appeal, with the connivance of Mr Galloway, through the Oil for Food programme. In doing so, Mr Galloway breached the advocacy rule of the Code. However, the Committee finds that there is no evidence that shows whether Mr Galloway has 'directly and personally, unlawfully received money from the former Iraqi regime'. The Committee finds that, in light of Mr Galloway's conduct in the course of the investigation, including questioning the integrity of the Commissioner and the Committee, he has damaged the reputation of the House. It recommends that he apologise to the House and that he should be suspended from the House for 18 sittings days, starting after the Summer Recess.
Download or read book The regulation of standards in British public life written by David Hine and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-02 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an analysis of the revolution of the last two decades that has built an extensive new regulatory apparatus governing British public ethics. The book sets the new machinery in the wider institutional framework of British government. Its main purpose is to understand the dilemmas of regulatory design that have emerged in each area examined.
Download or read book Towards a regional political class written by Klaus Stolz and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-19 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focussing on professional politicians Klaus Stolz investigates the interrelationship between political career patterns and political institutions in two of the most widely discussed cases of regionalism: Catalonia and Scotland. The study deals with two different yet closely related sets of questions: Firstly, how do professional politicians pursue their careers in the regional context. And secondly, how do they shape and reshape the political institutions in which they pursue these careers. The monograph is based on extensive empirical research including a comprehensive data set on the careers of Catalan and Scottish parliamentarians, systematic surveys of regional representatives as well as in-depth interviews of a wide range of politicians and experts in both regions. Exploring the effects of political professionalisation on regional democracy, Stolz goes way beyond traditional studies of regionalism and decentralization, while his focus on the regional career arena introduces a much needed territorial dimension to the study of political careers. Rich original data, innovative theoretical concepts and a strictly comparative approach are the basis for a study that considerably deepens and enhances our understanding of the tremendous political changes both Catalonia and Scotland are undergoing. Thus, the book is of interest to the still growing number of scholars concerned with devolution in the UK, the Spanish autonomous communities as well as to those interested in regional politics and regionalisation in general. Furthermore, its theoretical focus makes it highly relevant for scholars working on political careers, political professionalisation and democratic theory.
Download or read book The operation of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee on Members' Expenses and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-12-12 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: operation of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 : First report of session 2010-12, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence
Download or read book Conduct of Mr David Cameron written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee on Standards and Privileges and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-29 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report considers a complaint that the office of Mr Cameron, in the House, was being used as part of a party fund raising strategy. The complaint was upheld. Although there is no reason why Mr Cameron cannot meet, in his office or elsewhere on the Parliamentary Estate, those who donate to his party, what he cannot do is use his Parliamentary office as part of a fund-raising stratagem. In the Commissioner's view this is what happened in this case.
Download or read book The Impact of Legislatures written by Philip Norton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-10 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Impact of Legislatures brings together key articles and path-breaking scholarship published in The Journal of Legislative Studies during its first 25 years of publication, enabling the reader to make sense of the impact of legislatures in the modern world. Encompassing theory, comparative analysis, and county-based empirical studies, the volume examines the impact of legislatures as the key representative institutions of nations, addressing their relationships both to government and to the people. Legislatures are ubiquitous. They provide legitimacy to measures of public policy and to government. As such, they are key to how a nation is governed. But they do much more than confer legitimacy. They are generally multi-functional and functionally adaptable bodies, and are an essential link between citizen and government. However, scholarship on them has not been extensive and has often been descriptive and country- specific, limiting the capacity to make sense of them as a particular species of institution. The chapters in this volume reflect scholarship that helps the reader appreciate the significance of the place and consequences of legislatures, examining not only the relationship between the legislature and the executive, but also the oft-neglected relationship between legislatures and the people. Reflecting the growing body of research in the field of legislative studies, carried by The Journal of Legislative Studies since its inception in 1995, The Impact of Legislatures is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the impact of legislatures in the world today.
Download or read book Parliamentary Papers written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1824 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Second Chambers written by Nicholas Baldwin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Notwithstanding the fact that among the parliaments of the world, 38 per cent have Second Chambers (67 out of 179), Second Chambers themselves have only rarely been the focus of attention from politicians and have almost totally been ignored by academics. This work sets about examining them.
Download or read book Parliamentary Socialisation written by M. Rush and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first book-length study of the socialisation of MPs uses questionnaire data gathered over two Parliaments (1992-97 and 1997-2001) to find out how MPs learn about, and what their attitudes are towards, their role as a Member of Parliament. It analyzes their participation in debates, the use of Parliamentary Questions and committee work.
