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1126071

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
answering dept id	90
answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
hansard heading	Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: ICT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 249206 on Members: Allowances, what the (a) forecast and (b) final cost was of the new IPSA IT system; and what assessment was made of additional costs that would be incurred by MPs' staff to work on the new system.
tabling member constituency	Warley
tabling member printed	John Spellar
uin	253492
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>I have asked IPSA to reply.</p><p>The original April 2016 business case for IPSA’s new IT system, IPSA Online, estimated a cost of £4.641 million. At that time, IPSA expected the programme to be completed in 2017-18. The full costs of the system are now forecast to be £8.253 million.</p><p>The increase in cost was due in part to the unexpected General Election of June 2017 which diverted all IPSA work for up to nine months to supporting MPs who left or joined parliament, and increased supplier costs. Costs also increased following our change of suppliers in September 2018 to improve the quality of IPSA’s IT support. IPSA also spent longer than anticipated on testing the new system so that IPSA could have confidence that it would be fully secure and free of technical problems. The increases in cost have been partly mitigated by savings elsewhere in IPSA’s budget.</p><p>The new system administers MPs’ pay and business costs more efficiently and effectively, providing improved support to MPs and their staff while saving taxpayers’ money. MPs and their staff will benefit from these improvements by being able to access information and make changes to their staffing budget or office leases without needing to contact IPSA staff. They can now also access IPSA’s system directly through their secure parliamentary digital account without an additional logon. MPs and staff no longer need to send IPSA paper receipts and invoices through the post, but can scan and photograph them and upload them to IPSA digitally. The new system can also reimburse MPs’ staff directly rather than via the MP. On the basis of the experience so far, IPSA estimate that MPs will need to spend around 30 per cent less time overall on the new system than they did on the old one.</p><p>However, IPSA recognise that many MPs and their staff still need to get used to the new system. IPSA are therefore conducting group and one-to-one training in Parliament and have staff available on the phone to answer queries. IPSA are putting on more such training sessions in response to demand, with a regular presence in Portcullis House.</p><p>IPSA will shortly conduct a survey to gather more feedback about the new system, with plans for further improvements in due course. IPSA will report to the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA later in the year on the overall costs and benefits of IPSA Online.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 20/05/2019 12:41:32 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1126072

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
answering dept id	90
answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
hansard heading	Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Buildings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the cost has been of the move by IPSA to new premises in central London; and what assessment was made of the potential merits of moving the organisation to a cheaper location outside London.
tabling member constituency	Warley
tabling member printed	John Spellar
uin	253493
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>I have asked IPSA to reply.</p><p>IPSA moved into new office premises at 85 Strand in March 2019. The forecasted cost of this move is £732,900. This budget was approved by the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA in January 2018. IPSA’s Annual Accounts for the 2018-19 financial year are being finalised and will be laid in Parliament in November. The Speaker’s Committee will have an opportunity to scrutinise this and other expenditure.</p><p>After reviewing properties on the market, the offices selected met IPSA’s criteria and offered the best value for money to the taxpayer over the long term, with competitive running cost over the life of the lease after completing initial fit-out work. Locations outside of London were considered. IPSA concluded that basing IPSA’s office in London and within reasonable distance of Parliament would ensure that IPSA can provide a better support to MPs and their staff, including regular meetings between them and their IPSA account managers.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 20/05/2019 12:40:18 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1123862

registered interest
date	30/04/2019
answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
answering dept id	90
answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
hansard heading	Members: Allowances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what involvement did the Speaker's committee had in the formulation of the new claims system for hon. Members' allowances.
tabling member constituency	Warley
tabling member printed	John Spellar
uin	249206
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/05/2019 answer text <p>As part of its role to approve IPSA’s Estimate, in March 2016, the Speaker’s Committee approved funds for a wide-ranging improvement programme, including plans for a new IT system, IPSA Online. This took into account longstanding feedback from MPs and their staff about the need to modernise and improve IPSA’s systems and processes. In subsequent years, the Speaker’s Committee has scrutinised progress on this programme via the annual Estimate approval process, as well as other formal and informal updates.</p><p>The Speaker’s Committee had no direct input into the design of IPSA Online, but has received regular updates on the key features of the system and IPSA’s plans for engagement and training activities.</p><p>More generally, IPSA engaged with MPs and staff members throughout the development of IPSA Online through activities including surveys, meetings, usability testing and training sessions, in order to take account of their needs and preferences. IPSA is committed to ongoing liaison with MPs and their staff to gain further feedback on the new system now that it has been launched.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 07/05/2019 13:23:15 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar