Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
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The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is a public body in the United Kingdom created by the
Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 The Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 (c.13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that entered into force in part on 21 July 2009, largely as a response to the Parliamentary expenses scandal. The Act was considered urgent by the gov ...
, largely as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009. It establishes and monitors the expenses scheme for
Members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...
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. ...
, and is responsible for paying their salaries and expenses. Following revisions to the Parliamentary Standards Act in April 2010 (via the
Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (c. 25), or CRAG Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on UK constitutional law which affected the civil service and the ratification of treaties, and made other significant cha ...
), IPSA was also given responsibility for setting the level of MPs' salaries.


Role

IPSA is responsible for: setting the level of and paying MPs’ annual salaries; paying the salaries of MPs' staff; drawing up, reviewing, and administering an MPs’ allowances scheme; providing MPs with publicly available information relating to taxation issues; and determining the procedures for investigations and complaints relating to MPs. Upon its formation IPSA took over some of the functions previously undertaken by the House of Commons Fees Office, as well as some of the staff who previously carried out these functions.


Consultation

IPSA is required by statute to consult with certain bodies when setting the expenses scheme. In addition to consulting with this group, IPSA invited the public to respond to the consultation. The consultation was open from 4 January until 11 February 2010. In June 2010 IPSA launched three further consultations, on amendments to the expenses scheme; proposals on publication; and on the compliance officer's processes.


Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life

Sir Christopher Kelly Sir Christopher William Kelly, KCB (born 18 August 1946) is a former senior British Civil Servant who was the Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and Chairman of the NSPCC. Early life Born in Bromley, Kent, Kelly is the son of ...
, the Chairman of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...
, published a report on 4 November 2009 looking at MPs' expenses. His report had no formal powers, but provided recommendations to IPSA, and was used to inform the final allowances scheme prepared by IPSA.


Publication of first expenses scheme

IPSA published their first expenses scheme on 29 March 2010. It had a largely positive reaction from MPs, the media, and the general public, although there was some criticism of the continued ability of MPs to employ one family member.


MPs' salaries

Before the formation of IPSA, MPs were able to determine their own salaries and expenses. After the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, this role was taken from politicians and given to IPSA. In July 2015, IPSA announced that MPs' salaries would be increased from £67,000 to £74,000. They stated this "one-off adjustment" was needed to correct disparities between MPs and the rest of the public sector in terms of pay and pensions which they felt was the result of successive governments' reluctance to tackle the contentious issue. IPSA also commented that further pay rises would be linked to the average earnings in the public sector. Then Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
publicly criticized the move, saying "I don’t think this was the right decision", having previously criticized such a move as "simply unacceptable", given the rest of public sector pay had been capped for the duration of the parliament. Cameron, however, defended MPs accepting the rise, assuring them "the right thing to do is to be paid the rate for the job". The 10% pay rise was controversial as the rest of the public sector pay had been capped at 1% per year. Some MPs stated that they would not accept the pay rise but instead transfer it to charities. IPSA announced further pay rises of 1.3% and 1.4% to MPs' salaries in line with average earnings within the public sector as determined by the
Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for th ...
in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In March 2017, IPSA had to apologise to MPs after accidentally publishing information about MPs' staff and their salaries on the internet.


Criticism

IPSA has been criticised publicly by many MPs, including David Cameron, who, in 2010, told IPSA to "...get a grip on what they are doing and do it fast.". Criticism has been largely centred on the perceived high running costs of IPSA, inability of MPs to get through on the IPSA helpline, emails and letters going largely unanswered, and the length of time taken to reimburse expenses.


Governance

*IPSA Chair: Richard Lloyd *IPSA Chief Executive: Ian Todd. *IPSA Board members: Hon. Sir Robert Owen, QC, Rt Hon. Jenny Willott, OBE, Richard Lloyd, Will Lifford *Former IPSA Board members: Rt Hon Scott Baker,
Ken Olisa Sir Kenneth Aphunezi Olisa (born 13 October 1951) is a British businessman and philanthropist. He is the first mixed heritage Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London. He founded and led the AIM-listed technology merchant bank Interregnum and now lea ...
,
Jackie Ballard Jacqueline Margaret Ballard (née Mackenzie; born 4 January 1953) has been a charity senior manager, politician and journalist in the United Kingdom. Her former roles include Director General of the RSPCA, Chief Executive of RNID and Chief Exec ...
, Professor Isobel Sharp.


See also

*
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards. The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone. Duties The commissioner i ...
*
Committee on Standards and Privileges The Standards and Privileges Committee is a former committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons that existed from 1995 to 2013. The committee was established in 1995 to replace the earlier Committee of Privileges. It consisted of 10 Members of ...
* Parliamentary expenses scandal *
Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 The Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 (c.13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that entered into force in part on 21 July 2009, largely as a response to the Parliamentary expenses scandal. The Act was considered urgent by the gov ...
*
Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority The Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, or 'SCIPSA', is a body created under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 to scrutinise the UK's Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.IPSA Website
{{Authority control Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government Government agencies established in 2009 Parliament of the United Kingdom 2009 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2009