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1128446

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2019
	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, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2019 to Question 253493 on Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Location, how many staff are located in the new premises at 85 Strand; how much floor space those staff occupy; at what rate per square metre; which locations were considered outside London for new premises; and what the comparable cost would have been in locating those staff outside London.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	257645
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>I have asked IPSA to reply.</p><p>IPSA currently has 69 members of staff. It included in its office requirements space for up to 76 staff in order to provide flexibility for periods where there is a higher volume of work and therefore a need for additional temporary staff, such as General Election periods.</p><p>To disclose the size of the office or rate paid per square metre would be prejudicial to commercial interests. IPSA’s annual accounts are laid in Parliament and published each year, and will provide information about operational costs.</p><p>Before choosing its offices at 85 Strand, IPSA considered potential premises in Croydon and Milton Keynes, as well as Stratford and Canary Wharf in London, but determined that the selected location provided the prospect of better support to MPs and better value for money for the taxpayer.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 05/06/2019 09:35:36 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1128813

	registered interest
	date	03/06/2019
	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 20 May 2019 to Question 253492 on Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: ICT, what the evidential basis is for the assertion that the new system will save time for Members and their staff.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	258986
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>I have asked IPSA to reply.</p><p>As the system is new, IPSA continue to work closely with MPs and their staff to help them understand how IPSA Online works, and how to realise the full benefits. We are continuing to hold group and one-to-one training in Parliament and have staff available on the phone to answer queries. IPSA are conducting 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><p>During the development of the new system, IPSA Online, IPSA carried out usability testing to look at how long a range of tasks and functions would take, compared with the old claims system. Based on this testing, IPSA found that improvements in the new system would take MPs and their staff about 30 per cent less time, due to the simplification of processes and forms. Feedback collected at training sessions also indicated that MPs’ staff expected IPSA Online to be easier and quicker to use than the old system.</p><p>MPs and their staff members will also benefit from the following time-saving changes:</p><p>- ‘Single sign-on’ capability enables MPs and their staff to access IPSA Online directly through their secure parliamentary account without an additional logon.</p><p>- The new system allows claims from different budgets to be submitted on the same form, rather than having to submit multiple forms.</p><p>- Because MPs and staff no longer need to send paper receipts and invoices to IPSA, but can scan or photograph them and upload them digitally onto the system, we can process and reimburse claims more quickly.</p><p>- Staff members can now be reimbursed directly by IPSA for their own expenses, so that MPs no longer need to wait to pay staff once they themselves have been reimbursed.</p><p>- Additional information is available to them directly, for example on the amounts left in budgets and the status of any repayments or amounts owed, so MPs and their staff no longer need to wait for a monthly financial statement or contact IPSA staff to ask about these issues.</p><p>- MPs and their staff are now able to amend their personal details, including any change of name or address, on the new system themselves, without needing to submit a form to IPSA</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 13/06/2019 14:53:00 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker previous answer version 121410 answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1131046

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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: Location
	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, for what reason the Authority did not consider locations for its offices outside London and the South-East.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	262236
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>When moving offices, IPSA considered locations only in London and the South East, as evidence from other public bodies shows that organisations that relocate by a significant distance tend to lose more staff. IPSA is a small organisation and wished to retain its staff in order to continue uninterrupted its support to MPs, including regular meetings between them and their IPSA account managers, and its assurance to the public about MPs’ spending.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 20/06/2019 12:07:20 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker previous answer version 123714 answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1131047

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	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: Offices
	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 5 June 2019 to Question 257645 on Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Buildings, which organisation's commercial interests would be prejudiced; and in what manner by disclosing the size of IPSA's office and the rate paid per metre.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	262237
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>It is common practice for landlords to prohibit the publication of commercial agreements reached with their tenants. This is the case regarding the lease signed by IPSA and its landlord. IPSA is nonetheless a public body accountable to Parliament and its accounts are audited by the National Audit Office and scrutinised by the Speaker’s Committee for the IPSA in order to provide assurance that value for money has been obtained. The Speaker’s Committee is scheduled to meet in July 2019 to discuss IPSA’s finances and other matters.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker question first answered 20/06/2019 12:09:00 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker previous answer version 123713 answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Mr Charles Walker answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1304659

	registered interest
	date	22/03/2021
	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, how much IPSA spent on rent for its premises in the Strand in London in 2020-21.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	172857
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2021 answer text <p>IPSA incurred costs in 2019 - 20 of £524K on rent, rates and service charges. The equivalent figure for 2020 - 21 will be published after the end of the financial year in IPSA's 2020 - 21 annual report and accounts.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 25/03/2021 09:56:23 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1304660

	registered interest
	date	22/03/2021
	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: Staff
	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, how many IPSA staff are normally based at their office in the Strand.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	172858
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2021 answer text <p>IPSA staff are currently working remotely, in accordance with government Covid-19 guidelines. During 2019 - 20 there was an average of 83 full-time equivalent staff working for IPSA, based in 85 Strand.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 24/03/2021 12:27:29 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1464963

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2022
	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
	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 annual (a) rent and (b) other charges are for the IPSA premises at 85 Strand, London; how many staff are employed at that premises; and if he will make an estimate of how many and what proportion of those staff have worked from those offices in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	6697
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>IPSA incurred costs of 508k on rent, rates, and service charges in the 2020-21 financial year. In 2021-22, this figure was 367k. IPSA currently has 97 contracted employees, of which 68% (66) are on office-based contracts and (32%) 31 are on home-based contracts. The difficult times brought about by the pandemic brought forward IPSA’s plans to create a more representative national organisation which better reflects the nations, regions, and constituencies our MPs serve. Recruiting staff from across the UK without the necessity of living within commuting distance of central London has delivered a more inclusive and diverse workforce, well-positioned to deliver services locally without the need for lengthy travel from London. Of the 66 employees on office-based contracts, all 66 have worked at some point in the past 12 months at the premises. The data for all 97 staff members, regardless of their contract type, also indicates that 100% of employees have worked from the premises at some point over the last 12 months.</p><p>The delay in providing a response to this Question was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 24/10/2022 15:57:53 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1487967

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2022
	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	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Written Questions
	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, when a response will be received to Question 6697 tabled by the hon. Member for Warley on 23 May 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	33681
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>The delay in providing responses to Questions 6697, 33681, 42245 and 45520 was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 24/10/2022 15:58:50 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1503797

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2022
	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	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Written Questions
	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 Named Day Question 33681 on Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Written Questions tabled by the hon. Member for Warley on 11 July 2022 for written answer on 14 July 2022, when he plans to answer Question 6697 tabled by the hon. Member for Warley on 23 May 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	45520
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>The delay in providing responses to Questions 6697, 33681, 42245 and 45520 was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 24/10/2022 15:59:43 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1536544

	registered interest
	date	26/10/2022
	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
	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 his answer of 24 October to Question 6697 on Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the average daily attendance of staff at IPSA London Office was in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	72197
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2022 answer text <p>Average attendance at the London office has been monitered carefully be IPSA and is calculated by working days in the calender month (and is only based on current office-based staffing numbers (66)). This does not, however, include a number of IPSA people based on home-base contracts who make regular journeys into the office, particularly when based a short distance from the London region. It should be noted at the outset too that the discovery and surge of the Omicron variant, which necessitated public health advice to work from home, will have had an impact on the data from at least last Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022. For nearly the entire time period requested in the question, a significant number of desks were unavailable for use in the IPSA office to maintain appropiate social distancing in the context of IPSA's office layout. As only 32 of the possible 81 desks were available for use from 201 to the end of September 2022, this further materially reduced capacity within and attendance at the office. Noting the desks available and the number of staff available on office-based contracts, the general figures are below:</p><ul><li>October 2021: 9% (This should be read as the average office-based contract employee spendin 9% of their working month in the office in October 2021 and so on for the following months). This constituted 18% of available desks.</li><li>November 2021: 9%. This constituted 20% of available desks.</li><li>December 2021: 7%. This constituted 15% of available desks.</li><li>January 2022: 5%. This constituted 9% of available desks.</li><li>February 2022: 8%. This constituted 17% of available desks.</li><li>March 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>April 2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.</li><li>May 2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.</li><li>June 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.</li><li>July 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>August 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.</li><li>September 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>October 2022: now that all the desks are available for use, the desk booking system upon which the data above is based is no longer operative, so this figure cannot be produced.</li></ul><p>Like many organisations in the publice sector, IPSA recognised many benefits for its people and performance in continuing with a hybrid approach to work despite a lifting of formal coronavirus restrictions and other government public health advice. IPSA functions, such as payroll accuracy and the speed of reimbursement, have not been adversely impacted by such a model, and IPSA has instead been able to build a more inclusive and diverse workforce based accross the U.K. by bringing forward plans to create a more representative, hybrid, and flexibe organisation to reflect the nations, regions and constituencies MPs serve. The geographical spread of IPSA staff, new hybrid approach to working, and importance of value for money for the public purse will be central considerations for IPSA when it explores the locations and size of any office premises (in London or elsewhere) which it may require in future to continue to discharge its statutory duties efficiently, cost-effectively, and transparently.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 03/11/2022 10:47:17 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar