§ Lord Monkswellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will list, for the United Kingdom in 1993–94, the numbers of district councillors, county or regional councillors, MPs, MEPs and Peers, 70WA together with an estimate of their average remuneration, expenses and value of facilities provided free of charge.
§ Baroness BlatchThe following information is given for the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.
There are currently 21,066 district council and 4,024 regional or county council seats. Local authorities have the discretion to set their own allowances and travel and subsistence rates, although the Government do set a ceiling for some rates. The figures for average remuneration and expenses are not collected centrally.
There are 651 Members of the House of Commons. The total salary cost for 1993–94 was £22,934,000, giving an average salary cost of £35,229. The total allowances cost was £43,599,000, giving an average allowance cost of £66,972.
As at 31 March 1994, there were 1,202 Members of the House of Lords, of whom 92 were Peers without writs and 79 were Peers' with leave of absence. Of the 1,031 eligible to attend the House, 936 did so. Payments from the Peer's Expenses subhead of the Lords' Vote totalled £6,274,000, giving an average of £6,700 per Peer. Remuneration is restricted to a few specific Peers and it would therefore not be appropriate to provide an average for this. The value of facilities provided free of charge to MPs and Peers could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
There are 87 Members of the European Parliament representing the United Kingdom. 85 received the full salary payable at 1 January 1994 of £31,687. Two received a reduced, one-third rate of £10,562 because they held dual mandates (that is, were MEPs and UK MPs at the same time). Allowances and expenses are met directly from the budget of the European Commission and figures could only be provided at disproportionate cost.