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Standards and Privileges

Thank you. I should like to put in a plug for colleagues and people outside who have a view about pay to make those views known so that they can be fed into the system. We really should not just be talking to ourselves about these things, and it is important that our constituents feed into this process as well. My next point might be more controversial. My right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg) and I take the view that, as from 1 August, Members should be allowed to employ only one family member at a time. At the moment, several colleagues apparently employ more than one family member or person with whom they either have or have had a relationship. That is within the law, and it is perfectly understandable. It seems to me, however, that the public will not understand if they see the bulk of the money set aside as an allowance for staff pay going into the family. That really is not a credible proposition. We could achieve this change in several ways. We could decide that Members could employ only one member of staff, and that they could pay that person no more than half the yearly allowance, which is now about £100,000. Alternatively, we could set an upper limit to the amount of money available, or set a percentage. It would not be acceptable if this became a way of employing one's family. People might have wonderfully qualified family members who could do these jobs; that is not the point. The point is that we are public servants, and most of the jobs should be advertised publicly and recruited for publicly. There should be an equal opportunities policy for them, and we should behave like the rest of the public service, as the Chairman of the Committee on Standards and Privileges has pointed out. The only reason why it is acceptable to employ one family member or relative is that being a Member of Parliament often places considerable strains on family life; it is often, in a way, a small business in which all the family is engaged. It is therefore entirely justifiable that a spouse, partner, parent, child, son-in-law or daughter-in-law should be asked to help if they are competent to do so. That is entirely understandable, and can be good for family life. We go beyond the line, however, when we employ a second or third family member. If the first family member ceases to be employed, it is of course reasonable for a second person from the family to be recruited. I hope that we shall have a tough rule in place by 1 August stating that we may employ only one family member from then on.