Mr. Shailesh Vara (North-West Cambridgeshire) (Con): On this side of the House, and in common with many others, we have been absolutely clear that MPs' pay and expenses should be determined by an independent body. MPs setting their own financial package is simply not acceptable. Given all that has happened in recent months, that imperative has become ever more pressing. On that basis, we supported the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009.
Just as we supported IPSA's conception, we also pressed for its speedy inception, in order to ensure that the next Parliament can start under a new regime. After a long process of reviews and reports, the passing of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, and now with several additions and amendments to the 2009 Act being pursued through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, we are close to ensuring that the next Parliament will be able to start with a clean sheet, so far as pay, expenses and allowances are concerned.
Many of the changes made so far to this Bill are welcome. They have strengthened the Parliamentary Standards Act, following the many important and welcome recommendations made by Sir Christopher Kelly. As a result, the future management of Members' pay and allowances will be independent and transparent, coupled with a more rigorous audit and assurance process.
In Committee, we raised several concerns regarding some of the new clauses introduced by the Government. These included the need for a clearer requirement for IPSA to provide advice to Members; the fact that the compliance officer had a dual role, giving advice as well as having an investigatory role; the manner in which the original schedule 7 dealt with the transfer of the MPs' pensions scheme to IPSA, along with an obvious lack of consultation by the Government with the scheme's trustees; and the issue of payment of costs by Members in cases where IPSA itself was wholly or partly at fault concerning the advice that it offered. It is clear that the Government have reflected on those and other issues raised by right hon. and hon. Members in Committee, and I am pleased that the result is an improvement in the sections of the Bill dealing with IPSA.
On the issue of repayment of overpaid expenses, and the payment of costs by Members, I am pleased that the points raised by my right hon. Friend the shadow Leader of the House have been acted on and addressed in amendments 56 to 62. On the former, it is sensible that the Government have confirmed a discretion on the compliance officer concerning the full repayment of overpaid expenses when the compliance officer has found IPSA to be wholly or partly at fault. Although the discretion is unlikely to be exercised often, it is important that it exists, if natural justice is to be seen to be done, and actually to be done, in cases where incorrect information has been provided to Members who have subsequently acted on that advice in good faith.
We are also grateful that amendment 55 introduces a specific requirement on IPSA to provide further advice when Members request it. After the general election, all Members-whether old hands or newly arrived-will operate under the new regime, but it is inevitable that there will instances when a potential claim by a Member is not a black-and-white issue, no matter how well drafted the guidance from IPSA might be. The provision of advice will therefore help the process. May I say to the Secretary of State that his acceptance, on this issue, of the substance of the amendment tabled by the shadow Leader of the House and myself, in a spirit of cross-party co-operation, is much appreciated?
Then we come to pensions. Since we met in Committee, it has become clear that the Secretary of State has taken on board many of the points raised in the debate, and his amendments are a welcome step in the right direction. For example, they provide for member-nominated trustees on the board of trustees, which will give members a voice concerning their pension rights. As the chairman of the current board of trustees, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Sir John Butterfill), said, the amendments tabled will provide
"better protection to pension scheme members and better governance arrangements than those proposed at Committee stage."
However, the trustees clearly had some concerns-hence a number of amendments were tabled in the name of my hon. Friend and his colleagues, and to be fair, as we have heard, the Government have accepted a number of them. For example, amendment 90 provides indemnity for the trustees of the fund, past and present. If that was not made explicit in the Bill, we would certainly have problems trying to find people willing to serve as trustees. Amendments (a) and (b) to amendment 64, which allow for more effective selection of member-nominated trustees and a check on the payment of remuneration to trustees, are also highly sensible.
The Government, however, are not so supportive of another amendment tabled by the trustees. The Government have helped to clarify that the scheme will continue to be trust-based in the future, with amendment 64 dealing with how many trustees are to serve and how they will be appointed. However, the trustees assert that the point of the scheme being trust-based should be made explicit in the Bill, and they seek to do that with amendments 91 and 92. Although the scheme has operated on a trustee basis in the past, given that we are now transferring it to another body, it makes sense to make it as clear as possible that it will continue to be a trustee scheme in the future. On that basis, the Secretary of State might wish to reconsider amendments 91 and 92.
The trustees have also tabled amendment 94, which seeks to ensure that, if IPSA decides in the future to make a payment out of the fund to somebody who has not paid into it, the trustees must give their consent. Although that is an unlikely scenario, the Bill as drafted allows IPSA to do just that, and I am pleased that the Secretary of State has accepted some of the arguments for amendment 94. The trustees also have concerns about the protection of accrued rights, as evidenced by amendments (a) and (c) to Government amendment 76. Again, it is good that the Secretary of State is prepared to hear some of the arguments put forward, and I look forward to hearing what my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West has to say on that and other amendments.
The issues before us affect all Members, and I am pleased that the Secretary of State has taken note of the various suggestions made in Committee and the amendments before us today. The result is an improved Bill in so far as it relates to IPSA, which is welcome.
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