HC Deb 05 June 1981 vol 5 cc432-6W
Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will arrange now to update the information available to him on the pay and allowances of parliamentarians in the European Economic Community, North America and the Commonwealth and publish the result in the Official Report.

Mr. Pym

[pursuant to his reply, 14 April 1981; c. 85]: The following table gives the information requested.

Pay and Allowances of Parliamentarians in EEC and Other Countries (May 28 1981)
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)
UNTTED KINGDOM £11,750 Subsistence Allowance of up to £4,903pa when Member has to stay away from home. Allowance of £709 for Members representing London constituencies. Severance arrangements. Allowance of up to £8,000 for secretarial or research assistance and office expenses, plus £800 to provide pensions for Members employees. Repayment of fare or car mileage allowance: at 19.1p per mile for all journeys throughout the United Kingdom. Limited free travel for spouses. Free stationery, free Inland Telephone and postal service from Parliament.
BELGUIM BF 1,449,463 (£18,523) Half of this is free of tax Insurance policy to cover accidents etc. to Members. Gratuity on retirement, resignation or non-re-election of one month's pay per year of mandate with minimum of 12 months. Allowance of BF 17,000 (£217) per month for part-time secretarial assistance paid directly to the secretary concemed. Grant of BF 440,000 (Approx) (£5,623) per Member paid direct to the political parties to help with research, administrative support etc. Car allowance of BF3 (2.3p) per kilometre for journeys between home and Brussels (based on 120 days attendance). Free use of all Public Transport Reductions on Sabena flights. Free correspondence to all public authorities. 1,000 pre-stamped enveiopes per year. Five hundred sheets of writing paper and 500 unstamped envelopes per month. Free Inland and International Telephone calls from Parliament.
DENMARK DKr 160,992 (£10,640) Subsistence allowance: residents in or near Copenhagen: DKr 14,658 (£969) elsewhere in Zealand: DKr 22,749 (£1,503) others: Dkr 43,944 (£2,904). Total (to all Party Groups): DKr 777,056 (£51,358) per month ie DKr 4,341 (£287) per month per head. Free Inland Travel by rail, ferry and air services. Free Inland use of Telephone from Folketing, and free stationery (but not postage stamps).
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OFGERMANY DM 90,000 (£18,691) A Member of the Buodestag receives a monthly allowance of DM 4,500 (£934) 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 entitiled 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 F 292,335 (£25,654) Annual Salary figure includes F 1,103 (£97) per month Housing Allowance and F 4,872 (£427) representational allowance. Limited facilities for staying overnight at assemblee. Loans at privileged rates to buy House and Office. Office provided in National Assemblee, plus F 6,469 (£568) per month for a secretary (National Assemblee pay social security F 2,756 (£242) in addition)) and F 13,062 (£1,146) per month for two assistants (social security to be paid by employer). Free 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.
ITALY Lire 36,335,952 (£15,133) Expenses allowance of Lire 500,000 (£208)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 1,250,000 (£520) minimum Lire 3,800,000 (£1,582) maximum per year. 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 1,086,000 (£13,084) Members receive subsistence if on Parliamentary Business. For the first 5 members the individual party is paid an annual lump sum of LF 956,310 (£11,522) and LF 159,385 (£1,920) for each subsequent member. No allowances payable to parties with less than 5 elected Members. Allowance for official travel within Grand Duchy is LF 9 (7.5p) per kilometre for journey up to 10 KMS. A set rate of LF 180 (£2.16) is paid for journeys above 10 KMS. Free telephone calls from Parliamentary Building. Other office expenses including postage have to be met from office services Allowance.
THE NETHERLANDS HF1 57,100-HF1 89,600 (£10,673—£16,747) Tax free subsistence allowance of (calculated according to how far away the MP Hves from Parliament) HF1 11,391—HFl 22,780 (£2,129—£4,258). No allowance payable for secretarial and office services. Tax free travel allowance of HF1 8,065 (£1,507) per annum. Free telephone calls from Parliamentary Buildings; free postage.
REPUBUC OF IRELAND IR £12,899 (£9,828) Overnight subsistence of IR £17.50 (£13.30) for Country Deputies and IR £10 (£7.60) 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 their 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 permitted to employ secretaries at state expense, although each secretary must be shared between two Deputies (there are 58 secretaries who receive IR £105 (£80) per week). 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 11.5p (8.8p) per mile for the first 15,000 miles and 9.1p (7p) per mile for the next 5,000 miles. At the top of tbe scale a Deputy with a car of over 26HP receives 16.8p (12.8p) per mile for the first 15,000 miles and 13.8p (10.5p) per mile for the next 5,000 miles. 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 premitted unlimited free Trunk calls to a single nominated number (eg. their home) if their constituency is outside the Dublin area.
Pay and Allowances of Parliamentarians in EEC and Other Countries (May 28 1981)
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)
OTHER COUNTRIES AUSTRALIA $30,026 (£16,318) Member receives an electorate allowance of: electorate of less than 5,000 sq kilometres $ 11,500 (£6,250) per annum; electorate of 5,000 sq kilometres or more $16,750 (£9,103) per annum. An allowance of $56 (£30.40) in Canberra and $61 (£33.15) elsewhere if Members have 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 $32,700 (£13,146) Expenses allowance of $14,400 (£5,789), $17,700 (£7,115) or $19,100 (£7,678) depending on distance of Constituency from Ottawa. A Staff Allowance of $78,000 (£31,357) of which at least $15,696 (£6,310) must be spent on staff for Constituency Office. Constituency Office allowance of $7,600 (£3,055) towards rent and $1,000 (£402) for equipment. Free rail travel. Fifty two return air trips (some first class depending on distance of constituency from Ottawa). Free telephone calls within the Ottawa area to any regional office of a Federal Government Department; to any provincial 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.
NEWZEALAND NZ$28,145 (£11,488) Expenses allowance of NZ$5,819 (£2,375) per annum. Electorate allowance of NZ$630 (£257) to NZ$3,070 (£1,253) per annum according to the nature of the electorate. Day attendance allowance of NZ$11 (£4.50) per day. Night attendance allowance of NZ$24 (£9.80) 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 secretarial services. 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 MP's receive NZ$10 (£4) 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.
UNTTED STATES MEMBERS OF THE SENATE $60,662.50.(£29,312) Senators receive an allowance on a scale from $592,608 (£286,353) to $1,190,724 (£575,368) per year depending on their state's population to cover the cost of staff salaries. Rent-free offices at the capitol and in home districts, with Liberal allowances for furniture and office equipment. Senators receive an allowance on a scale from $37,000 (£17,879) to $143,000 (£69,099) per year 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 REPRESENTATTVES $60,662.50 (£29,312) House Members receive a flat yearly allowance of $336,384 (£162,543) to cover the cost of staff salaries. Members may lease mobile offices at Public expense. House Members' expense accounts, including a $43,000 (£20,778) basic allowance, plus additional amounts for specific items, average more than $80,000 (£38,656) a year. As for senators.