§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara) rose to move, That the First Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 19) be agreed to. The noble Lord said: My Lords, the effect of the 137 committee's recommendation would be to approve the publication, from autumn 2004, of information relating to Members' expenses in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The information, which would be published annually thereafter, would set out the aggregate expenses claimed by each Member during the year. Those figures would be calculated by the Accountant's Office on the basis of claims submitted by the Members. Similar information is already published by the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. I understand that similar conclusions have been reached in the House of Commons with regard to the publication of expenses claimed by Members of that House.
§ Legal advice considered by the House Committee suggests that the two Houses could not easily justify doing less than that in fulfilling their obligations under the Act. I should draw your Lordships' attention to one point in the report. Publication in autumn 2004 would include claims made in the three previous financial years—2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04. The Act, which comes into effect on 1st January 2005, is fully retrospective, and, as the report states, data are retained by the Accountant's Office for three years with the agreement of the National Audit Office.
§ I do not think that I need to go into further detail at this point, although I shall do my best to answer any questions put to me. I believe that the method proposed by the committee will enable the House to present information on expenses to the public in a balanced, fair and comprehensive form. The alternative of requiring the House authorities to respond on a case-by-case basis to requests from the media or the public once the Act comes into force in January 2005 would be time-consuming and expensive.
§ Finally, I believe that this method of publication strikes the right balance between the rights of individual Members and the public interest, and that it will fully satisfy the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the First Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 19) be agreed to.—(The Chairman of Committees.)
§ Following is the report referred to: