APPENDIX
LETTER FROM THE SPEAKER TO THE LEADER OF THE HOUSE,
21 DECEMBER 2004
At its meeting on 15 December the Members' Estimate
Committee discussed the detailed implementation of the various
Resolutions on Members' Allowances agreed by the House on 3 November.
The Committee had before it figures provided by the Department
of Finance and Administration on the effects of the new car mileage
allowance regime. These demonstrated that a substantial number
of Members stood to suffer a cash loss in 2005-06 of well over
£1,000, and those with the highest mileage claims a cash
loss of around £3,000.
The Committee felt that, because the House was faced
on 3 November with a straight choice between agreeing to the SSRB's
recommendation and an amendment which amounted to approval of
the status quo, the eventual decision may not have accurately
reflected Members' wishes. It therefore considered that the House
should be given an opportunity to vote on a proposal for phasing
in the new arrangements, on a similar basis to the revised provisions
on early retirement. The Committee is also conscious of the sense
among some Members that there may be a case for preserving the
existing lower rate threshold, which was not an option on which
it was possible to take a separate decision.
These matters can only be decided by the House. The
Committee would therefore be grateful if you would make the necessary
arrangements for a Motion or Motions to be put before the House
for its determination. If a proposal on phasing in the implementation
were to be put before the House in fairly general terms, endorsing
the principle of phasing, allowing for the question of the threshold
to be decided, and setting out the desired timescale, and if the
House were to agree to it, the Committee would be content to be
charged by the House with determining the exact rates to be paid
for the years in question.
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