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Proceeding contribution from Peter Bottomley (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 15 December 2011. It occurred during Backbench debate on Parliamentary Standards Act 2009.


Parliamentary Standards Act 2009

I echo the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) about anything that we say here not being derogatory about IPSA staff, who face the same problems we do. I draw the attention of my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie) to the answers in annex 1, which show that four out of five MPs think that IPSA is not effective in helping us to do our job. I tried to ring IPSA this morning, because I see that 99 times out of 100 it answers the phone within 60 seconds. I started calling at 9 o'clock; it is now half-past 12. That is three and a half hours. It is a bit like the train operating company that said, ““No trains this morning were late because we didn't run any.”” IPSA will not answer the phone before 1 o'clock, and then we discover that the person we want is at lunch. If the amendment is carried—I am not sure whether it should be—will my hon. Friend try to persuade IPSA to pay attention to the detail of the report? Does IPSA have to be the only public service that for half the day is not available to somebody who wants to ring it?


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
537 c946-7 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Accountability Cost effectiveness Costs Allowances Pay Members Standards Regulation Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority Committee on Members' Expenses
Legislation
Parliamentary Standards Act 2009
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk