§ 3.32 p.m.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. This Motion is designed to give effect to the £3 a day increase in Peers' expenses allowance proposed in my Statement last Tuesday. Peers who have to incur overnight accommodation expenses in London away from their only, or main, residence in order to attend the House would be 635 entitled to claim reimbursement up to a maximum of £16.50 a day instead of the present £13.50.
The current maximum of £13.50 will, however, continue to apply to Peers who live within normal daily travelling distance of Westminster, and who therefore do not have to pay for overnight accommodation in order to attend to Parliamentary business.
My Lords, I realise that this measure is a modest one that will not meet the full needs of the situation established by the Review Body. But as noble Lords opposite recognised last Tuesday, the Government must be bound by the requirements of their own pay policy. For reimbursement allowances, this means that increases must be limited to the extent that costs have actually risen; and for Peers' expenses allowance, this means the increase in costs since June 1975. recognise that the coverage of Peers' expenses allowance has never been clearly defined, and the Review Body sought to remedy this by breaking expenditure down into four elements.
Their recommendations must however be seen as an entity; and, until pay policy permits us to examine them in detail, they cannot be implemented on a piecemeal basis. In the meantime, the Government have proposed the maximum increase permissible under the policy, and I commend this Motion to your Lordships' House for approval. I should perhaps add that the Leave of Absence and Lords' Expenses Committee will be meeting later this afternoon, and I understand that they will be considering the implications of this resolution as it affects the administration of the Peers' expenses allowances.
§ Moved, That this House approves that, where the expenses incurred by a Member of this House for the purpose of attending on any day a sitting of this House or of any Committee of this House include expenses necessarily incurred in staying overnight away from his only or main residence, the limit on the daily allowance payable to him for that day should be raised from £13.50 to £16.50.—(Lord Peart.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.