The war of words between Bay MP Adrian Sanders and the man who wants his job, Tory Marcus Wood, over how much the MP pays his staff deepened today.
Mr Wood, prospective Parliamentary candidate, had challenged the Liberal Democrat MP to be 'transparent' about how much his staff, and in particular his wife Alison, are paid.He said a private business would have to list a range of salaries paid to a number of staff, without naming them.
Mr Wood said he thought the public wanted to know what exactly the staff do, and roughly how much they each earn, as they are paid for by the taxpayers.
But Mr Sanders insisted he publishes details about who he employs and what they do in his annual report circulated to households.
He declined to list the salaries of individuals and said it was up to those individuals to decide if they wanted their salaries publicised, but he said the going rate for his wife's job was £38,000 to £40,000 - although he does not pay her that.
He said: "There's no way I am using half of my staffing allowance on one person. Alison is not getting anywhere near the recommended rate for the job.
"She doesn't just work a 37-hour week, she is at my beck and call at all hours, just as I am at the beck and call of my constituents.
"I employ four full-time staff for an allowance of £85,000. I see Brixham Town Council is looking for the equivalent of two full-time posts for £70,000."
The row was re-ignited by the suspension of Tory MP Derek Conway. MPs voted to suspend the MP for 10 days and order him to return £13,161 of the money he paid his son.
He had already been censured for overpaying son Freddie's Parliamentary allowances and has apologised to MPs. The MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup has had his party's whip withdrawn and says he will not fight the next election.
Simon Hughes, for the Liberal Democrats, supported the call for Mr Conway's suspension and said MPs should be banned from employing more than one family member, that they should be recruited openly and paid the 'going rate'.
And he called for an annual 'spot check' of randomly-selected MPs' finances and a limit of £50 a month placed on the amount they could claim in expenses without providing receipts.
The Liberal Democrats also said they thought the names of those employed on the public payroll by MPs should become part of Parliamentary disclosure.
Mr Sanders has already said he would welcome more scrutiny of staff employed by MPs so they would be employed by the Government, to ensure they are qualified and that there would be some monitoring of the work carried out.
In his annual report he lists his staff as: head of office, his wife Alison, casework officer Steve Darling, casework assistant Tom Smith, and Commons researcher working at Westminster Alice Orr-Ewing.
He said such information is not collated by the House of Commons and so would not be subject to a Freedom of Information request.
He said his staff's job descriptions and contracts are according to House of Commons recommendations which are publicly available.
"My staff would not receive their salary cheque unless their contract had been lodged with the administration department," he said. "At the end of the day an MP is judged on how efficient his office is in responding to constituents. After 10 years I think my office staff could stand alongside the very best of any MP anywhere and if you asked constituents what they thought of the service they got I think my staff would get a very high approval rating."
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Friday, 1 February 2008
MP BACKS CALLS FOR 'TRANSPARENCY' ON 'JOBS-FOR-THE-FAMILY'
11:00 - 31 January 2008
He said: "There is a case for the House authority to look at how it could scrutinise employment more carefully. But most MPs' wives work extremely hard and are good value for the taxpayer."
Mr Younger Ross said he believed more scrutiny was needed of MP's expenses. There is no requirement for MPs to file receipts for claims, though he did.
"Then if anyone queries anything it is there as a matter of record. It's not just a case of justice being done, but being seen to be done," he said.
Bay MP Mr Sanders pointed out his wife Alison, his office manager, had worked for former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown when they met and would probably be working for another MP if they had not met.
"If someone is qualified for the job, their relationship is irrelevant," he said.
Mr Conway also employed his wife, but as he could prove the work she had carried out, that was not part of the current inquiry, Mr Sanders pointed out.
Mr Wood said in the light of Mr Sanders' criticism over the salary of Tory Mayor Nick Bye and businesses paying low wages in the Bay, he should tell taxpayers who he employs and the range of salaries they receive.
Mr Wood said: "As a private business you would have to list who you employ and their range of salary in your annual report. Adrian Sanders is claiming nearly £85,000 a year from taxpayers for staffing costs. The money is paid by the government and there is no scrutiny.
"An MP doesn't have to show the work his staff are doing."
He said the Parliamentary system meant taxpayers would be unable to find the information which would be available if the same questions were asked about the elected Mayor Nick Bye's office.
Mr Wood said: "It is quite clear the public don't approve of the current lax arrangements whereby MPs can employ family members with no scrutiny as to whether those people are actually doing the work for which they are being paid, or for instance whether they are being paid a realistic rate for the work they are doing.
"It is for this reason that throughout the Civil Service and most of the private sector such arrangements are not normally permitted.
"I did manage to establish that his paid staff included his wife Alison, leading Lib Dem Torbay councillor Ruth Pentney and Torbay Council Lib Dem leader Steve Darling but of course we cannot know because Adrian refuses to publish any details and he is excluded from the Freedom of Information act as an MP.
"I would never employ a member of my family in this way and would campaign to have the rules changed if elected," he said.
Mr Sanders agreed saying: "I would support a more transparent system for MP's employees."
He did not think it right to give details of individuals, but said it would not be difficult to work out roughly how much the salaries were with only four people, especially as one was paid at London rates, and that the total included the 11 per cent on costs.
He described the system for travel allowances and for London living allowances for MPs as a bigger 'scandal' which was open to abuse, .
Someone who paid the £20,000 a year London living allowance on a mortgage could, thanks to the property price rises, have a tidy profit when they sold, funded by taxpayers.
He believed a system should be established where an average figure was used for the two allowances, and paid as part of salary.
Totnes MP Anthony Steen said he feared all MPs were being 'tarred with the same brush' following the Conway case.
Mr Steen, whose last claim was £86,482, said: "I think the whole matter of who I employ and what I pay is private, just as it is for the editor of your paper.
"I am not going to comment on how I run this office, but that is because I have nothing to hide. But I don't want my staff employed as civil servants.
He said he had no quarrels with the current system of allowances.
MPs can claim up to £87,272 a year , soon to rise to £96,630, to pay for staff including researchers, secretaries and assistants.
Adrian Sanders, one of 38 MPs listed nationally whose wives work for them, has backed calls for more transparency in the system of MPs employing staff.
The Bay's Lib Dem MP was named in the list of those who admit employing immediate family following the ongoing controversy over the Tory who employed his son but couldn't prove what work he had done for him.Marcus Wood, prospective Tory Parliamentary candidate for Torbay, has challenged Mr Sanders to be 'completely open and transparent' about the arrangements he has with family and friends who work in his office and how many of them are paid for out of taxpayers' funds following the recent controversy concerning Derek Conway.
Mr Sanders, whose last claim was for £85,000 for employing four staff including his wife Alison, said he would welcome a tightening up of the system so MPs' staff would be employed by Government, that they would have to be qualified for the job, and there would be some monitoring of the work done.
He said: "There is a case for the House authority to look at how it could scrutinise employment more carefully. But most MPs' wives work extremely hard and are good value for the taxpayer."
Mr Younger Ross said he believed more scrutiny was needed of MP's expenses. There is no requirement for MPs to file receipts for claims, though he did.
"Then if anyone queries anything it is there as a matter of record. It's not just a case of justice being done, but being seen to be done," he said.
Bay MP Mr Sanders pointed out his wife Alison, his office manager, had worked for former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown when they met and would probably be working for another MP if they had not met.
"If someone is qualified for the job, their relationship is irrelevant," he said.
Mr Conway also employed his wife, but as he could prove the work she had carried out, that was not part of the current inquiry, Mr Sanders pointed out.
Mr Wood said in the light of Mr Sanders' criticism over the salary of Tory Mayor Nick Bye and businesses paying low wages in the Bay, he should tell taxpayers who he employs and the range of salaries they receive.
Mr Wood said: "As a private business you would have to list who you employ and their range of salary in your annual report. Adrian Sanders is claiming nearly £85,000 a year from taxpayers for staffing costs. The money is paid by the government and there is no scrutiny.
"An MP doesn't have to show the work his staff are doing."
He said the Parliamentary system meant taxpayers would be unable to find the information which would be available if the same questions were asked about the elected Mayor Nick Bye's office.
Mr Wood said: "It is quite clear the public don't approve of the current lax arrangements whereby MPs can employ family members with no scrutiny as to whether those people are actually doing the work for which they are being paid, or for instance whether they are being paid a realistic rate for the work they are doing.
"It is for this reason that throughout the Civil Service and most of the private sector such arrangements are not normally permitted.
"I did manage to establish that his paid staff included his wife Alison, leading Lib Dem Torbay councillor Ruth Pentney and Torbay Council Lib Dem leader Steve Darling but of course we cannot know because Adrian refuses to publish any details and he is excluded from the Freedom of Information act as an MP.
"I would never employ a member of my family in this way and would campaign to have the rules changed if elected," he said.
Mr Sanders agreed saying: "I would support a more transparent system for MP's employees."
He did not think it right to give details of individuals, but said it would not be difficult to work out roughly how much the salaries were with only four people, especially as one was paid at London rates, and that the total included the 11 per cent on costs.
He described the system for travel allowances and for London living allowances for MPs as a bigger 'scandal' which was open to abuse, .
Someone who paid the £20,000 a year London living allowance on a mortgage could, thanks to the property price rises, have a tidy profit when they sold, funded by taxpayers.
He believed a system should be established where an average figure was used for the two allowances, and paid as part of salary.
Totnes MP Anthony Steen said he feared all MPs were being 'tarred with the same brush' following the Conway case.
Mr Steen, whose last claim was £86,482, said: "I think the whole matter of who I employ and what I pay is private, just as it is for the editor of your paper.
"I am not going to comment on how I run this office, but that is because I have nothing to hide. But I don't want my staff employed as civil servants.
He said he had no quarrels with the current system of allowances.
MPs can claim up to £87,272 a year , soon to rise to £96,630, to pay for staff including researchers, secretaries and assistants.
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