§ Lord SHEPHERDMy Lords, with the permission of the Chief Whip, I will now make a Statement. On Wednesday, 16th July, a Statement was made in another place announcing an increase in the pay and allowances of Members of Parliament following the publication of the Report of the Top Salaries Review Body on the Parliamentary Salary. On that occasion I announced that the Review Body were expected to report on the expense allowances of Peers and other matters later in the year.
Meanwhile, the Review Body have recommended an interim increase on the Peers' Expense Allowance in the light of increased allowances paid to Members of Parliament. The Government accept this recommendation, and accordingly propose the limit of the daily attendance allowance of Peers should be raised from £11.50 to £13.50 with effect from 13th June. I will move a Resolution giving effect to this increase on Tuesday of next week, together with a Resolution increasing the rate of car mileage allowance and the rate of London supplement payable to Ministers and paid Office-holders in the House, announced also on 16th July. I take this occasion again to stress that the purpose of the Peers' Expense Allowance, as I am sure the House will fully appreciate, is to cover the reimbursement of expenditure incurred in attending the House. It is not a fiat rate attendance allowance.
My Lords, that concludes the Statement.
§ Lord ABERDAREMy Lords, I am sure the House will be grateful to the noble Lord the Leader of the House for having made that Statement. I think it important to underline, especially in the 439 present climate of opinion, what he said at the end of the Statement: that this figure is a maximum figure, it is for the reimbursement of expenses actually incurred; it is not a salary and it is not an attendance allowance. Your Lordships give your services completely free. I should like to say that, in my opinion, the country gets very good value from your Lordships, from the amount of work you do, especially at this time of the year.
Having said that, I should like to welcome the interim increase of £2. I know there are a number of your Lord-ships who have been out of pocket recently in attending this House, and that is quite wrong. I hope that this increase of £2 will go to remedy that situation.
§ Baroness GAITSKELLMy Lords, with regard to what the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, said, that all noble Lords give their services free, some noble Lords cannot afford to give their services free. Until this Chamber—unless it is reformed, and it certainly should be reformed in some ways—does something about this, it will have no Back-Benchers here; the Front Benchers, or those who can afford to come here, will be the only people who are able to take part in the proceedings.
§ Lord SHEPHERDMy Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, is quite right; your Lordships give service to this place free. When I think of the length of Question Time, replies to supplementary question Statements, and some of our debates, I thank God we are not paid, because I do not know when we would ever complete our business! I am certain that the announcement that has been made by the Government is right. The allowance is reimbursement of expenses properly incurred in attending this House. If I may reply to the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, in a perhaps more serious way, we on this side of the House, particularly on this Front Bench, are indeed grateful for the way in which your Lordships' House have taken the burdens of the last few weeks and the burdens that I think we must anticipate in the next few weeks. We are very grateful indeed.
§ Lord DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord could say when the final report of the Boyle Committee is likely to be received? He 440 described this as an interim increase. Can he give any further information?
§ Lord SHEPHERDNo, my Lords; this is a very complex matter, as I think anyone who has studied it will agree. We asked the noble Lord, Lord Boyle, and his Committee to look into this in a radical way. They have considerable burdens from many other inquiries. I could not anticipate, but I have no doubt at all that they are well aware of the importance of producing a report as quickly as possible.
§ Baroness BACONMy Lords, in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding, in the present climate of opinion, would my noble friend make it quite clear to those who do not understand that what is called Daily Attendance Allowance is, in fact, for many Members of this House a daily attendance allowance which has to cover also a night in hotels or flats in London. I do not think this is generally understood by people outside this House.
§ Lord SHEPHERDMy Lords, my noble friend is quite right. The expenses of attending Parliament vary very much according to the membership of the House, what is incurred, the distances which they travel; some are required to spend more than one night in London. I would not have made this recommendation to my colleagues in the Government or to your Lordships' House unless I thought this amount was justified in the circumstances.
§ The Earl of DUNDEEMy Lords, on a small point of detail, I think the noble Lord said this would take effect as from 1st June. Did he not mean 1st July?
§ Lord SHEPHERDThe 13th June.
§ Lord BLYTONMy Lords, does not my noble friend think that in these days there ought to be a differential in the Lords, the same as in the Commons, between those who come 300 miles and are captive and those who are in London and can go home every night?
§ Lord SHEPHERDMy Lords, I am not sure what my noble friend means by "captive". The point to which he refers was very much borne in mind last 441 year, and this was one of the reasons that we sent this matter to the Boyle Committee.