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Tommy Sheridan has submitted the attached comments and proposals to the official review into the working of the Scottish Parliament Allowances scheme
Scottish Parliamentary Allowances Review
I am grateful for this opportunity to respond to the Scottish Parliamentary Allowances Review. There are two main issues on which I would like to comment.
Staff costs
1. I wish to put on record my concerns regarding MSPs support staff costs. In 2001, the Senior Salaries Review Body recommended that the Parliament should "establish pay ranges for Members' support staff". To date this recommendation has not been implemented.
2. As a former MSP of eight years I always strove to ensure that all my support staff received the best possible pay and conditions I could arrange from my MSPs allowance, however due to the lower level of MSA for Scottish MSPs in comparison to Westminster MPs this not only put considerable strain on the MSA but restricted the amount by which I was able to pay my support staff.
3. MSPs support staff are vital to the work of an MSP and their pay and conditions must reflect that. Both Parliamentary and constituency support staff play an essential role in enabling an MSPs to carry out their public duties.
4.. MSPs support staff salaries should be reflective of the pay rates of their equivalent colleagues at Westminster and also take into account the vital and professional job carried out by those staff.
5. MSPs support staff should be paid centrally by the Parliament outwith the MSPs allowances.
6. If staff were paid centrally by the Parliament itself this would ensure equality of pay and conditions for all staff regardless of which political party they worked for.
7.. The subsequent lack of personal staff salary detail in MSPs allowances would also allow for the Parliamentary allowances to be published in full giving greater transparency.
Edinburgh Accommodation Allowances
1. I wish to put on record my concerns regarding the Edinburgh Accommodation Allowances scheme. Whilst it is obvious that MSPs from around the country need to be accommodated in Edinburgh to allow them to fulfil their public duties, I feel that the current system in place is poorly thought through and as a result open to abuse. MSPs must remember that they are first and foremost public servants and as such are paid a reasonable level of remuneration. They are further, quite rightly, allocated an allowance to assist them in carrying out both their parliamentary and constituency duties.
2. There has been much criticism of this scheme within the media and, while it may be argued whether or not such criticism is valid, this is an issues that must be considered. MSPs are elected to do a job and must maintain the trust of the public if they are to maintain the ethos of public service and carry out their duties to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the public generally appear to distrust politicians as a matter of course. It is surely incumbent therefore, for our Parliament to do everything in its power to win back that trust. Put simply our MSPs must be above reproach and our Parliamentary system must at all times reflect that honesty. Whatever allowance scheme is in place must be open, transparent, accountable and free from abuse. Unfortunately the current Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance scheme fails to deliver that honesty.
3. The Parliament should provide accommodation for MSPs which could then be allocated at the beginning of every Parliamentary year. The accommodation would be purchased and owned via the public purse and would, crucially, remain the property of the Parliament not any individual MSP. For example, the Parliament in Sweden, which has 349 members, holds 250 flats which are let to members of the Parliament as necessary. The Scottish Parliament could easily run a similar system.
4. We must never forget that the money that pays the MSPs allowances is public money and must be publicly accountable. It cannot and must not be used for the benefit of any individual. Why should an MSPs, on a higher salary than most other public servants such as nurses, fire-fighters or paramedics, be able to profit from the public purse? Why should public money raised via taxation on ordinary hard working people be used to benefit those who would seek personal gain over public service? The system must be radically overhauled. Yes provide our MSPs with the accommodation they require to carry out their public duties but no-one should profit from the public purse. The present system is a property gravy train whose journey must end now. |
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