Annex 1: Current governance arrangements
The HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION was created by the
House of Commons Administration Act 1978, repealing the nineteenth
century House of Commons Offices Acts. Rt Hon Michael J. Martin
MP, the Speaker of the House of Commons, takes the central position
as ex officio Chair of the Commission. The Act prescribes
that two of other Commission members are ex officio: the
Leader of the House (currently Rt Hon Jack Straw MP) and a person
appointed by the Leader of the Opposition (in practice the Shadow
Leader of the House, currently Rt Hon Theresa May MP). There has
been significant turnover in both these positions. A convention
has grown up in recent years of the Shadow Leader of the House
chairing the AUDIT COMMITTEE. The three other positions on the
Commission are for Members (who may not be Ministers) to be nominated
by the House, in practice, one Member from each of the three main
parties. It has become the tradition for the Liberal Democrat
backbench member of the Commission (currently Nick Harvey MP)
to act as its spokesman, answering oral and written parliamentary
questions. The current Labour member of the Commission (Sir Stuart
Bell MP) is also Chairman of the Finance and Services Committee,
providing a link between this select committee and the Commission,
as originally recommended by Ibbs. The present Conservative member
on the Commission (Rt Hon David Maclean MP) is a member of the
Joint Committee on Security, and like Sir Stuart Bell sits on
the Liaison Committee (in his separate capacity as Chairman of
the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments).
This membership has a dual corporate role, sitting
as both the Commission, responsible for the Administration Vote,
covering management and services, and, under S.O. No. 152D, as
the MEMBERS ESTIMATE COMMITTEE, covering the House of Commons:
Members Vote (pay, expenses and allowances). There are legal distinctions
which prevent the two Votes and bodies from being merged in the
interests of clarity and efficiency — the Commission has
statutory powers in respect of the House of Commons: Administration
Vote, but it is not the statutory authority for the House of Commons:
Members Vote, which comes under the Supply Estimates of Government
expenditure laid before Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
At the operational level, however, there is considerable overlap
and interrelationship between the two: House officials administer
Members' pay and allowances, and the Clerk of the House is the
Accounting Officer for both the Administration and Members Votes.
The FINANCE AND SERVICES COMMITTEE is a select committee
appointed under S.O. No. 144 to consider expenditure on and the
administration of services for the House and
(a) with the assistance of the Board of Management,
to prepare the Estimates for House of Commons: Administration
for submission to the House of Commons Commission;
(b) to monitor the financial performance of the House
Administration; and
(c) to report to the House of Commons Commission
or the Speaker on the financial and administrative implications
of recommendations made to them by the Administration Committee.
Prior to 2005, the Finance and Services Committee
included the chairmen of the Domestic Committees (Accommodation
& Works, Administration, Broadcasting, Catering and Information)
and the Deputy Chief Whips from the Government and the Official
Opposition. It now consists of eleven Members, chosen for their
knowledge and experience of the House.
The present ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE, chaired by
Mr Frank Doran MP, was created at the outset of the new Parliament
in 2005, when the previous Domestic Committees were disbanded
and a single Committee was instituted instead with the following
Order of Reference: "to consider the services provided for
and by the House and to make recommendations thereon to the House
of Commons Commission or to the Speaker. Any such recommendation
whose implementation would incur additional expenditure charged
to the Estimate for House of Commons: Administration shall also
be considered by the Finance and Services Committee" (S.O.
No. 139). Although the Administration Committee has one or two
executive responsibilities delegated to it by Mr Speaker, its
role is in essence advisory.
The HOUSE OF COMMONS SERVICE is led by Malcolm Jack,
the Clerk of the House, who is also the Chief Executive, the statutory
Corporate Officer of the House of Commons and Accounting Officer.
The Clerk of the House attends House of Commons Commission meetings.
He chairs the Board of Management that comprises the Heads of
the seven Departments through which day-to-day management of business
and delivery of services is conducted: the Clerk's Department
(represented by Helen Irwin, the Clerk of Committees); Peter Grant
Peterkin, the Serjeant at Arms; Andrew Walker, the Director of
Finance and Administration; John Pullinger, the Librarian; Lorraine
Sutherland, Editor of the Official Report (Hansard); Sue Harrison,
the Director of Catering Services; and Joan Miller, the Director
of the Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology
(PICT) Department — the last a joint Department with the
House of Lords.
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