§ Mr. Mike Thomasasked the Lord President of the Council if, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East on 26 April, Official Report, column 200, he is now in a position to publish an updating of the information given in the Official Report of 5 June 1981, columns 432–435, on the pay and allowances of overseas parliamentarians.
§ Mr. BiffenThe following table gives the information requested.
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EEC Countries Basic Annual Salary Special Allowances and Concessions Secretarial and Office services Travel Concessions (on Parliamentary Business) Postage and Telephone Services (on Parliamentary Business) Federal Republic of Germany DM90,000 (£21,139) A Member of the Bundestag receives a monthly allowance of DM 4,500 (£1, 057) to cover: (a) The cost of maintaining an office outside the Bundestag, office equipment, postage, Telephone outside the Bundestag and for constituency work;
(b) additional expenses at the seat of the Bundestag and for travel (with the exception of travel abroad);
(c) The cost of travel on Parliamentary Business (irrespective of the arrangements listed under the "Travel Concessions" column)
Upon election the Member is provided with a furnished office in the Bundestag. The cost of employing staff is refunded under the terms of the Budgetary Law. Car Pool. Within the FRG: A Member of the Bundestag is entitled to free use of all forms of Transport belonging to The German Federal Railways and the German Federal Post Office; reimbursement of air and sleeping car fares. The costs of air transport and sleeping cars on official travel abroad are reimbursed on application. Free telephone service from the Bundestag France FF 325,754.50 (£29,321) Annual Salary figure includes FF 12,409 (£1,117) annual Housing Allowance and FF 65,151 (£5,864) annual representational allowance. Limited facilities for staying overnight at Assemblee. Loans at privileged rates to buy house and office. Office provided in national Assembly plus FF 13,887 (£1,250) per month for a secretary and FF 15,316 (£1,378) per month for two parliamentary assistants. Free rail travel at all times. Wives travel half price. Forty free return journeys by air per year to the Deputy's Constituency, if local airport suitably situated. Free postage. Free telephone calls from parliament to Paris and Constituencies. Quota of free calls from home. Free stationery. 308W309W
Pay and Allowances of Parliamentarians in EEC and in other Countries (10 June 1982) EEC Countries Basic Annual Salary Special Allowances and Concessions Secretarial and Office Services Travel Concessions (on Parliamentary Business) Postage and Telephone Services (on Parliamentary Business) Italy Lire 37,540,008 (£15,934) Expense allowances of Lire 500,000 (£212) per month tax free. Italian MPs do not in general have their own private offices and secretaries in parliament. A "Copy Office" with 7 to 8 secretaries exists for the general use of MPs but the majority of work is done at the respective party offices. Free first class travel on the entire railway network plus 16 additional free railway tickets per year for relatives or friends. Reimbursement of taxi fares; Lire 1,500,000 (£637) except for Rome MPs, for whom it is Lire 750,000 (£318). Air travel limited to a maximum of 100 journeys per year. Limited free postage and telephone facilities (200 letters and approximately one hour of telephone conversation per month). Luxembourg LF 1,109,736 (£13,803) Half of this is free of tax — Basic annual salary is expected to cover secretarial and office services. Reimbursement of official travel at a rate of LF 10 (8p) per kilometre. — The Netherlands FL 59,762-FL 93,881 (£12,708–£19,964) Tax free subsistence allowance of (calculated according to how far away the MP lives from Parliament) FL 11,391-FL 22,780 (£2,422–£4,844). No allowances payable for secretarial and office services. Tax free travel allowance of FL 8,065(£l,715) per annum Free telephone calls from Parliamentary Buildings; free postage. 310W
EEC Countries Basic Annual Salary Special Allowances and Concessions Secretarial and Office Services Travel Concessions (on Parliamentary Business) Postage and Telephone Services (on Parliamentary Business) Republic of Ireland IR £13,802 (£11,253) Overnight subsistence of IR £17.50 (£14.30) for Country Deputies and IR £10 (£8.15) for Dublin Deputies when attending Dáil Sittings. The State provides a limited number of offices for the use of Deputies, allocated to the various political parties, Deputies make then-own arrangements for sharing the (very cramped) office space. A few Deputies are permitted their own offices eg Ministers, Leaders of the main opposition parties. Deputies who are not office holders are allowed one secretary each; all secretaries are paid out of public funds. Deputies are entitled to a motor mileage allowance for official business which is scaled according to the size of their cars. At the bottom of the scale, a Deputy with a car of less than 10 hp receives 14.2p (11.6p) per mile for the first 15,000 miles and 11.3p (9.2p) per mile for the next 5,000 miles. At the top of the scale a Deputy with a car of over 26 hp receives 20.8p (17p) per mile or the first 15,000 miles and 17.1p (14p) per mile for the next 5,000 miles. Any mileage over 20,000, regardless of horse power is paid at 11.3p (9.2p) per mile. Deputies are permitted 300 free letters for official purposes each year, of which 100 may be posted in the constituency. The remainder must be sent via the Dáil, where they are checked to make sure that the privilege is not abused. Deputies can dial the Dublin area from the Dáil free of charge, and are permitted unlimited free Trunk calls to a single nominated number (eg their home) if their constituency is oat-side the Dublin area. OTHER COUNTRIES Australia $33,013 (£19,230) Member receives an electorate allowance of: electorate of less than 5,000 sq kilometres $12,600 (£7,339) per annum; electorate of 5,000 sq kilometres or more $18,400 (£10,718) per annum. An allowance of $65 (£37.90) in Canberra and $70 (£40.80) elsewhere if Member has to stay overnight away from home. A Member shall be entitled to employ at Government expense: (i) an electorate secretary in his electorate office; and (ii) an additional staff member, who at the discretion of the member, may be located in the electorate office as an electorate assistant or in Canberra as a legislative assistant. Members are issued with warrant and credit cards for journeys within Australia by air, rail or motor coach and qualify for car mileage allowance at public service rates. Limited free travel for spouses or nominees of Members. Free national telephone calls. Free postage up to a limit of 1,250 letters per month. Canada $48,600 (£21,848) Expenses allowance of $16,300 (£7,327) $20,000 (£8,991) or $21,600 (£9,710) depending on accessibility to constituents ie size of constituency and/or its distance from Ottawa. A Staff Allowance of $86,600 (£38,930) of which at least $17,423 (£7,832) must be spent on staff for Constituency Office. Constituency Office allowance of $9,200 (£4,136) towards rent and $1,000 (£450) for equipment per Parliament $2,000 (£899) for newly elected Members per Parliament). Free rail travel. Fifty-two first class return air trips to constituency. Internal constituency travel: urban $1,050 (£472) per annum, semi rural $2,150 (£966) per annum, rural $5,250 (£2,360) per annum. Free telephone calls within the Ottawa area to any regional office of a Federal Government Department; to any provisional Government Departments in Member's province; from constituency to any point within the province or to Ottawa. Any mail to or from an MP within Canada is free of charge; 4 household mailings a year (ie distribution of party literature) to all constituents. 311W
EEC Countries Basic Annual Salary Special Allowances and Concessions Secretarial and Office Services Travel Concessions (on Parliamentary Business) Postage and Telephone Services (on Parliamentary Business) New Zealand NZ $32,271 (£13,726) Expenses allowance of NZ $ 2,500 (£1,063) per annum. Electorate allowance of NZ $4,500 (£1,914) for urban electorate, NZ $6,250 for urban/rural electorate or NZ $8,250 (£3,509) for rural electorate. Day attendance allowance of NZ $12 (£5.10) per day. Night attendance allowance of NZ $26 (£11) per night where accommodation is required in Wellington overnight Each MP has his own office but shares a secretary with one other MP. No help is given for constituency office or Parliamentary business. Free air and rail travel is available within NZ for each member and spouse whether or not on Parliamentary business. All mail posted from Parliament Buildings is free. In addition MPs receive NZ $10 (£4.25) worth of postage stamps per month for posting constituency mail. Each MP has free use of a telephone in his office in Parliament, in his Wellington accommodation (if any) and in his home in his electorate. United States Members of the Senate $60,662.50 (£34,370) Senators receive an allowance on a scale from $621,054 (£351,872) to $1,247,879 (£707,014) per year depending on their state's population to cover the cost of staff salaries and administration. Rent-free offices at the Capitol and in home districts, with liberal allowances for furniture and office equipment. Each Senator receives an allowance on a scale from $33,000 (£18,697) to $143,000 (£81,020) per year for his official expense account, depending on the number of constituents, distance from Washington and other factors. In addition each member is allowed one free trip to Washington at the start of each session of congress and a return trip at the end. Free postage. Unlimited free long-distance telephone service through the Government's own Federal Telecommunications system daily between 9 am and 5 pm on weekdays and any time on weekends and holidays. Members of the House of Representatives $60,662.50 (£34,370) House Members receive a flat yearly allowance of $352,536 (£199,737) to cover the cost of staff salaries and administration. Members may lease mobile offices at Public expense. Each House Member receives an allowance of $47,300 (£26,799) per year for his official expense account. As for senators.