The House of Commons Commission is the overall supervisory body of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Administration in the United Kingdom. The Commission is a corporate body established by the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978 (c.36). The Commission continues to exist during the dissolution period and the person who was

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

continues in office as a member of the Commission until a Speaker is chosen by the new Parliament.Schedule 1 of the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978 (c.36)
/ref>

Responsibilities

The commission is responsible for the Administration Department and the departments of the Speaker,

Clerk of the House of Commons The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England. The formal name for the position held by the Clerk of the House of C ...

, Serjeant at Arms,

Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

and Official Report of the House of Commons. Its responsibilities are: *Appointing staff of the House (excluding the Clerk of the House of Commons, Clerk Assistant, Serjeant at Arms, and Speaker's personal staff) *Preparing and laying before the House the Estimates for the House of Commons Service *Allocating functions to House departments *Maintenance of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north b ...

and the

Parliamentary Estate The Parliamentary Estate is the land and buildings used by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The most notable part of the Parliamentary Estate is the Palace of Westminster, where the chambers of both houses of Parliament (the Commons and t ...

*Reporting annually to the House on its actions and on financial estimates for the financial year Members of Parliament can question the spokesperson of the commission in the same way as they can question government ministers. The House of Commons Commission claims not to be a public authority for the purposes of the

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in ...

or the

Environmental Information Regulations 2004 The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) is a UK Statutory Instrument (SI 2004 No. 3391) that provides a statutory right of access to environmental information held by UK public authorities. The regulations came into force on 1 J ...

Delegated responsibilities

The commission delegates some of its statutory responsibilities to the House of Commons Executive Board. The House of Commons Executive Board manages day to day operations, including ensuring that staff terms and conditions are met consistently. The commission has no responsibility for pensions, allowances or salaries. Pensions are dealt with by the Members Estimate Committee. Salaries and allowances are considered by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Membership

Commission membership was laid out in the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978. Membership consisted of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the

Leader of the House of Commons The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of t ...

, a member of parliament appointed by the Leader and three members of parliament appointed by the House of Commons. The three members appointed by the House of Commons cannot also be Ministers of the Crown. Membership was updated by the House of Commons Commission Act 2015. The 2015 act expanded the Commission to include an additional member of parliament and four lay members. The Speaker remains a member, despite a dissolution of Parliament, until a new Speaker is elected. Aside from the Leader of the House (who remains a member until a new Leader is appointed), the others also remain members during a dissolution unless they do not seek nomination as an MP or fail to be re-elected at the general election. The membership of the Members Estimates Committee is identical to that of the Commission. However, because it is a committee, it ceases to exist during a dissolution of Parliament.

Current membership

Estimates and related committees

Currently, funding for the House of Commons is divided into two blocs: the Administration Estimate and the Members Estimate. The Administration Estimate provides for the Commons portion of the Parliamentary Estates, the Chamber, and Commons staff. The Commission takes direct responsibility for the Administration Estimate and is assisted by the Administration Audit Committee (made up of three MPs and outside three members) in auditing the Estimate. The Members Estimate includes funds for MPs' pay, expenses, and staffs, as well as

Short Money Short Money is the common name given to the annual payment to opposition parties in the United Kingdom House of Commons to help them with their costs. It includes funding to assist an opposition party in carrying out its Parliamentary business, ...

(financial assistance to opposition parties). The House of Commons created the Members Estimate Committee (MEC) to oversee it, but provided that its membership be the same as that of the Commission. The MEC has appointed a Members Estimate Audit Committee with the same membership as the Administration Audit Committee. The House also created the

Members' Allowances Committee The Members' Expenses Committee, until July 2011 called the Members' Allowances Committee, was a select committee of the British House of Commons, the lower house of the United Kingdom Parliament. The committee advises the Members Estimates Commi ...

to advise the MEC on its functions. It was also created to advise the MEC, Speaker, and Leader of the House on other allowances issues; to approve guidance for MPs on allowances, and to resolve questions regarding allowances rules referred by MPs. With the creation of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, funds for pay, allowances, and staffing are no longer part of the Members Estimate, reducing it by 80%. Because IPSA only took responsibility for MPs' pay during the 2010/11 financial year, there will still be a substantial Members' Estimate. But, the Director of General Resources has recommended folding the rump of the Members Estimate into the Administration Estimate beginning with 2011/12,Future of the Members Estimate
/ref> and in their advice to the House of Commons during consideration of the bill that created IPSA, the members of the Estimates Audit Committees anticipated that would happen.Parliamentary Standards Bill: Memorandum from the House of Commons Audits Committees
/ref> Eliminating the Members Estimate would lead to the elimination of the MEC and Members Estimates Audit Committee, and quite possibly the Members' Allowances Committee.

Trade unions

The House recognises the FDA (which represents senior staff), Prospect, PCS and GMB, which represent staff of the House and collectively form the House's Trade Union Side (TUS). MPs' staff are not employees of the House of Commons Service, but of the individual Members for which they work. While

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (afte ...

has not been recognised under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act for the purpose of collective bargaining with the House Service, the House Administration has agreed a draft memorandum of understanding with Unite and the Members' and Peers' Staff Association.

References

{{UKParliamentCommittees Committees of the British House of Commons