§ Mr. Terry Walkerasked the Lord President of the Council if he will make a statement on the peers' expenses allowance.
§ Mr. FootThe Top Salaries Review Body was asked in January 1975 to review the remuneration and pensions of Ministers of the Crown and Members of Parliament and the peers' expenses allowance. The ninth report of the Review Body, which is published today, covers the peers' expenses allowance and completes this remit.
The Government welcome the Review Body's analysis of this difficult problem but have decided to defer, until pay policy permits, detailed consideration of its recommendations for splitting the present allowance into four separate elements with a maximum limit overall of £24.50 a day. The Government recognise, however, the need meanwhile for additional assistance to those peers who have to incur overnight accommodation expenses in London in order to attend the House. My right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal is therefore proposing in another place that the existing limit, solely for those peers, should be increased from £13.50 to £16.50 a day to reflect consistently with pay policy the increase in costs since the peers' expenses allowance was last revised in June 1975.