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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

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

1536546

	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, what consideration has been given to moving IPSA's headquarters out of Central London.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	72198
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2022 answer text <p>Before moving to its current location in March 2019, IPSA consided sites in Milton Keynes and Croydon, as well as Stratford and Canary Wharf. At that time, before the Covid-19 pandemic, a central London presence was deemed best placed to offer support to MPs and enable employees working from the office to attend meetings in Parliament at short notice. Going forward, IPSA will once again approach its future needs in a careful and considered way to ensure that its premises are conductive to offering a high-quality service to MPs and their staff, in addition to delivering good value for money for the taxpayer.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 01/11/2022 10:21:53 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1583576

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2023
	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, on what dates the Board is scheduled to meet.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	139279
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2023 answer text <p>In 2023, the IPSA Board has scheduled Board meetings on 22 February, 29 March, 28 June, 12 and 13 September, 18 October, and 13 December.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 09/02/2023 09:04:51 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1583577

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2023
	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, how many meetings the Authority had with staff representative bodies before the announcement of staffing budgets.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	139280
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2023 answer text <p>Whilst IPSA cannot enter into formal negotiations that would have any binding effect on the individual decisions of MPs as employers, IPSA is happy to work in any effective way that it can with staff representatives to ensure that their voice is heard, and seen to be heard.</p><p>IPSA does not set MPs’ staff pay as MPs are the individual employers of their staff as a matter of law. IPSA has, however, proactively sought meetings and discussions with staff representatives and has significantly increased engagement with MPs’ staff over recent years. This has included regular meetings with its MP Staff User Group, joining the House of Commons’ Office Manager group, and through inviting staff representatives, such as Unite, the Members and Peers’ Staff Association (MAPSA), and Wellness Working Group, to IPSA Board meetings to share their insight and views. IPSA has also liaised in recent years with the GMB trade union.</p><p>IPSA is very grateful for the high volume of valuable feedback it has received through these series of feedback channels. This has enabled IPSA to survey MP staff on casework workload, budgets, and wellbeing, and check in at each House Office Manager meeting, with such engagement valuable to IPSA in proposing a staffing uplift during the covid-19 pandemic and in establishing an exceptional funding process for the pressures created during the Afghan withdrawal in August 2021.</p><p>In addition to the channels above, direct representations from staff groups were considered as part of the proposals which IPSA made on MPs’ staffing budgets. Specific examples for 2023/24 budgets include meetings with Unite and MAPSA on 26 May, 14 June, and 21 November 2022, and with the GMB union on 16 December.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 09/02/2023 09:05:11 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1583578

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2023
	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, if the Authority will publish the findings of the March 2020 Hays recruitment report on comparable job roles and salaries.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	139281
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2023 answer text <p>IPSA conducts an external benchmarking exercise on MPs’ staff salaries every three years. In September 2019, Hays conducted a pay and job description review, which IPSA published in <a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/nc7h1cs4q6ic/5XVP87rv4tPagC7W1aNV8n/c3172cd4e40978bb54dabba54ea117d7/hays-mps-staff-pay-and-job-description-review-september-2.pdf" target="_blank">March 2020</a>.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 09/02/2023 09:05:30 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1583579

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2023
	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, when staffing budget proposals for 2023-24 were presented to the board.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	139282
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2023 answer text <p>The IPSA Board considered market benchmarking, data, and MP and staff representations at it meetings of 19 October 2022, 7 December 2022 and 14 December 2022.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 07/02/2023 13:26:10 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1668577

	registered interest
	date	08/11/2023
	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, how many (a) public and (b) private meetings the Committee has held in the last four years.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	889
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2023 answer text <p>The Committee last met on 8 November 2023. The Committee publishes minutes of all its meetings on its website. These record which meeting agenda items were taken in public and in private. Between November 2019 and 15 November 2023, 15 meetings were held of which 11 were wholly in private and four had public sessions.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 15/11/2023 10:56:39 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1697795

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2024
	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 assessment the Committee has made of the effectiveness of the handling of MPs expenses claims by IPSA.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	19774
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2024 answer text <p>The Speaker’s Committee meets IPSA throughout the year to assess its performance, running costs and effectiveness in handling MPs’ expenses. The Committee last met IPSA on 5 March 2024 and a transcript of that session is available on the Committee’s website: <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14403/pdf/" target="_blank">https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14403/pdf/</a></p><p>In 2023, 65.3 per cent of MPs and their staff rated IPSA’s service as either good or very good, which was up on this measure in 2019 when 25.1 per cent rated the service in that way. The time taken for IPSA to reimburse MPs’ claims has reduced from an average of 8 days in 2020-21 to 2.6 days in 2023-24. Compliance with IPSA’s scheme is currently at 99.9%.</p><p>Through its scrutiny of IPSA, the Committee is looking at the steps being taken by IPSA to help improve its effectiveness in enabling MPs and their staff to claim for expenses and business costs. IPSA’s ongoing work includes:</p><ul><li>the development of an IPSA online portal to enhance the customer experience by improving the functionality of the system in areas such as claim and form submission;</li><li>the greater provision of centralised services, reducing the financial and administrative burden on MPs and their staff through the centralised provision of goods and services such as constituency office leases, utilities, and equipment;</li><li>the piloting of an online marketplace, allowing MPs and their staff to purchase goods such as office equipment centrally; and</li><li>exploration of alternative models of reimbursement, enabling MPs and their staff to pay for business costs without the need to claim retrospectively.</li></ul><p>The Committee plans to consider IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2023-24 later in the summer at which point it will assess IPSA’s latest results against its performance indicators.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 26/03/2024 10:33:05 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

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