§ Mr. SteenTo ask the President of the Council if she will estimate the number of additional hours per month required to complete the newly designed C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 forms; how many additional staff are employed by the Fees Office to handle these claims; and if she will estimate the average number of hours(a) hon. Members will spend annually, recording and completing motor mileage claims and (b) the Fees Office takes to check this information. [86884]
§ Mrs. BeckettI am afraid that it is not possible for me to estimate the hours required by Members to complete the Fees Office claim forms and their motor mileage claims. As I am sure the hon. Member will understand, Members have differing claim and travel patterns and, therefore, will take different amounts of time to complete the relevant forms. The new claim forms were designed to make completion easier for Members. I understand that the Fees Office has had a number of favourable comments about them from Members.
No additional staff were engaged to handle the revised claim forms. Staff employed by the Fees Office in checking motor mileage claims also have other duties and it is not possible accurately to apportion the time spent on each specific area of work.