HC Deb 09 May 2002 vol 385 c401
401
§
Resolved,
That the Resolution of 26th May 1999 relating to travel by honourable Members to national parliaments and European Union institutions be rescinded and the following provision be made in its place:
(1) That, in the opinion of this House, provision should be made as from 1st April 2002 for reimbursing honourable Members in respect of the cost of travelling on parliamentary duties between the United Kingdom and any European Union institution in Brussels, Luxembourg or Strasbourg and to the national parliament of an EU state or a candidate country and any additional expenses necessarily incurred in such travelling, subject to the conditions that
- (a) the amount payable to an honourable Member in any year, beginning with 1st April, shall not exceed the aggregate of the cost of three return business class airfares for the journey on the assumption that the journey begins and ends at a London airport and that the destination is any of the three cities mentioned above or the location of the national parliament of an EU state or a candidate country; and
- (b) subsistence for each journey made under this Resolution shall be restricted to two nights at the Civil Service class A standard subsistence rate for the time being in operation;
- (c) an honourable Member must submit in advance to the Fees Office, Department of Finance and Administration a statement of the visit's purpose, location and duration and the persons or organisations to be met; and
- (d) expenditure in pursuance of this Resolution within financial year 2002–03 shall not exceed the total currently planned for expenditure on travel by honourable Members to European Union institutions or European national parliaments within that year.
(2) Expenditure under this Budget should form part of the General Services Budget and, if so advised by the Speaker's Advisory Panel, the Speaker and the Leader of the House shall have the power to vary the provisions of this Resolution in future financial years. —[Mr. Woolas.]