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Houses of Parliament: Costs

Answer

Precise comparisons between the cost of the European Parliament and the Houses of Parliament are difficult. The requested information is set out below. As with previous Answers to similar Questions, the House of Commons and House of Lords have provided data relating to costs on a resource basis, consistent with their resource accounts. The European Parliament has not adopted resource accounting and budgeting and all its cost figures have been presented on a cash basis.

Per Capita Cost per Member
£'000s	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07 unaudited provision
House of Commons (1) (3)	449	724	682
House of Lords (2) (3)	125	157	108

Figures for the European Parliament are available on its website (8). Annual Costs European Parliament The European Parliament outturn figures for calendar years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and budget figures for 2006 and 2007 can be found on the European Parliament website (8).

House of Commons
£ millions	2006-07 Provisional Unaudited Outturn
Salaries, pensions, for Members (4)	143.5
Salaries and pensions for admin staff	71.5
Accommodation costs, including rent, operating costs and security	87.4
Other administration costs	50.7
Total	353.1

Details of previous years’ expenditure by the House of Commons can be found in the Members and administration resource accounts (5)

House of Lords
£ millions	2006-07 Provisional Unaudited Outturn
Members expenses	15.3
Salaries and pensions for admin staff	17.5
Accommodation costs, including rent, operating costs and security	38.5
Other administration costs	37.1
Total	108.4

Details of previous years’ expenditure by the House of Lords can be found in its resource accounts (6).

Number of Sitting Days
Sitting Days	2005-06 Session	Calendar Year 2006	2006-07 Financial Year
European Parliament Plenary Session (7) (8)	60	48	47
House of Commons Chamber	201	208	143
House of Commons, Westminster Hall	80	86	66
House of Lords Chamber	206	147	147
House of Lords, Grand Committee	85	62	50
(1) The figures are calculated on the 641 Members who actually sit in Chamber for 2006-07, 659 Members for 2005-06 and 731 for 2004-05. There are 646 Members of whom five decline to sit in Chambers.
(2) The figures are calculated on the assumption that there are 722 Members.
(3) From 2004-05 onwards the figures are based on the capital charge reducing from 6 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
(4) Higher Member costs for 2006-07 represent an increase of 0.6 per cent in the assumption of Member take-up of allowances
(5) House of Commons resource accounts can be found on its website (HC419, HC420, HC67, HC68, HC1239, HC1240): www. publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhocpap.htm#resource
(6) House of Lords resource accounts can be found on its website (HL23, HL44, HL11, HL197): www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/Id/ldres.htm
(7) European Parliament budget information and number of Members can be found on its website: www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/budget/www/index-en.htm
(8) www.europarl.org.uk/

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

4285; 693 c69-70WA

Session

2006-07

Subjects

Administration Costs Allowances Buildings House of Lords European Parliament European Parliament members Pay Pensions Members Staff Peers Travel Security Rents Times of sittings Per capita costs Members' staff Westminster Hall sittings House of Commons chamber House of Lords chamber Operating costs Peers' staff House of Lords Grand Committee

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk