Dai Havard

Labour Party | Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

MP's Allowances (II)

Part II

May 2009

Allowances for running a Constituency Office, Staffing, and Communications Allowance:

Office and Staffing Allowances

I rent a constituency office in Pentrebach and employ three full-time members of staff, none of whom are related to me. Unlike some MP’s I choose to place the bulk of the resources available to me in my constituency with a minimum of support in London.

My staff are all local people employed and paid in line with indicative contracts of employment and pay bands, related to responsibly and experience, described by the House of Commons Finance and Administration Department. My staff salaries and other related employee costs are paid directly by the Finance and Administration Department.

The rent and other expenses for running my constituency office are paid directly to the landlord and various other suppliers by the House authorities, against bills and receipts submitted within the capped budget available. Any expenditure for equipment comes from the same capped budget allowance and is again administered through the House authorities. Certain items, such as office furniture attract tax which falls to me to pay. I am taxed for that on a personal basis until the item is amortised.

Detailed Office Costs

The detailed documents showing how claims were made and paid, for the running of my constituency office, from 2004, will be published and posted on the Parliamentary web site; I believe that will now be some time in June. I am not, for data protection and other technical constraints in a position to publish the detailed documents now. Nevertheless as with my claims for staying and working in London (Part I) for public information, I have set out in Table form the main headings of such expenditures (See Annex B).

Best Use of Available Allowances

You will see that in previous years I have used some of the Parliamentary allowances I have for employing staff to invest in some locally based research; to address some of the most difficult policy aspects of the social and economic aspects of economic inactivity. I am currently using some of those resources to fund a two year joint research project with the University of Glamorgan. This research is to see how we can improve opportunities for those who need to return to work and build our economic activity. This study should report at the end of the two year process. The use of the allowances for the project is agreed with the House Authorities. All payments for the project are made directly by the House authorities to the University.

Communication Allowance

As with all other allowances my use of the Communication Allowance is agreed with the House authorities. Most of the capped allowance is taken up with newsletters which I distribute three times a year to all dwellings in the constituency. The costs of these newsletters are paid directly by the House authorities to the local businesses which print and distribute them. The content of these newsletters is restricted to my Parliamentary activities and are not allowed to be party political in any way and are vetted by the House authorities before payment is made. The remainder of the allowance is used for printing and postage of communications to particular groups of constituents in reply to campaigns they contact me about and other issues specific to constituents in a particular area within the constituency.

Auditing and Administration

The information about the use of my staffing and office costs, Communications Allowance, reimbursed expenses and Additional Costs Allowance are all held by the House authorities and always have been available to them for audit or for referral by them for outside inspection by an independent body at any time. They have always been controlled in this way since I was elected in 2001.

New System:

The process of audit of all allowances has been strengthened with the involvement of the National Audit Office and additional external independent involvement and as I understand it all claims made since 2004 will be further looked at retrospectively. I welcome measures that make the processes independently determined and audited and look forward to possible early recommendations from the ‘Kelly inquiry’.

ANNEX B
Constituency Office, Staffing and Communications Allowance:
2007 to 2008

Total Allowance	£21,339.00
Transferred to Communication	£498.00
Transferred to Employee Allowance	£ 2,631.00
Allowance Left	£18,210.00
Rent	£5,528.52
Stationery	£1,029.27
Telephones	£3,824.44
Staff Expenses	£1,444.40
Photocopier	£1,254.30
Insurance	£434.99
Surgeries	£100.00
Computers	£1,772.03
* Other	£976.04
Office moving Costs	£1,845.30
Total	£18,209.29
Allowance Remaining	£0.71

* Other Costs - Description

Data Protection	£35.00
Miscellaneous office supplies	£59.99
Miscellaneous office supplies	£43.52
Room hire	£29.38
Electrician checks on equipment	£161.56
Membership of Research Organisation	£25.00
Refund on Rent from previous landlord	£-30.56
Miscellaneous office supplies	£52.87
Cupboard	£211.49
Computer Storage	£299.97
Misc. (10 +19.98 +7.98)	£37.96
Misc for London Office	£17.94
Computer Accessories	£31.92
Total	£976.04

Communications Allowance

Total Allowance	£10,000
Transferred From Office Costs	£498
Total	£10,498
Printer (2 Newsletters)	£3109
Distributor	£1960
Office equipment e.g. Franking Machine	£4928.81
Advertisement – Advice & surgeries	£499.38
Total Spent	£10,497.19
Allowance Remaining	£0.81

Employee Allowance

Total Allowance	£90,505
Transferred from Office Costs	£2631
Total Allowance	£93,136
Employee Pay (3 employees)	£75,774.84
Employee On costs	£8,059.05
Employee Travel	£357.42
Research	£8,944.69
Total Spent	£93,136

Constituency Office, Staffing and Communications Allowance:
2006 to 2007

Total Allowance	£20,440.25
Transferred from Employee Allowance	£ 3,861.43
Total Allowance	£24,302.00
Rent	£5,424.00
Stationery	£948.85
Telephones	£3,235.28
Staff Expenses	£3,547.63
Photocopier	£1,463.00
Insurance	£497.50
Surgeries	£101.91
Computers	£1.250.78
* Other	£7,832.73
Total	£24,301.68
Allowance Remaining	£0.32

* Other Costs - Description

Cupboard	£90.44
Cupboard	£273.72
Wireless Mouse	£8.96
Tools for Office in London	£6.98
Telephone Accessories	£105.96
Sundries	£15.97
Computer cartridges (bK)	£20.28
Membership of Research Organisation	£25.00
Printer cartridges (clr)	£109.20
Car ‘phone Charger	£12.45
Car Bluetooth	£39.99
Battery & Screen Protector	£34.90
Portable computer storage	£266.90
Shredder - London Office	£366.56
PDA	£497.02
Printer (2 Newsletters)	£3,024
Distributor (3 Newsletters - 1 from previous financial year)	£2,934.40
Total	£7,832.73

Employee Allowance

Total Allowance	£87,276.00
Transferred to Office Costs	£3,861.43
Total Allowance	£83,414.57
Employee Pay (3 employees)	£74,160.69
Employee On costs	£7,399.57
Total Spent	£81,560.26
Allowance Remaining	£1,854.31

Constituency Office, Staffing and Communications Allowance:
2005 to 2006

Allowance	£ 20,000.00
Transferred to Employee Allowance	£1,431.00
Total Allowance	£18,569.00
Rent	£5,251.76
Stationery	£1,276.59
Telephones	£3,501.58
Staff Expenses	£1,064.48
Photocopier	£1,087.63
Insurance	£523.75
Surgeries	£60.95
Computers	£235.00
* Other	£5,566.44
Total	£18,568.18
Allowance Remaining	£0.82

* Other Costs - Description

Postage	£17.10
Data Protection	£35.00
Comp Hub	£29.99
Photographs for Website	£40.00
Phone accessories	£37.42
Advert	£405.38
Bluetooth headset	£51.06
Fax for constituency work	£86.98
The Wales Year Book directory	£55.00
Membership of Research Organisation	£25.00
Office Equipment	£99.20
Office Equipment	£51.05
Office Equipment	£-19.38
Painting Office	£200.00
Office Carpet Cleaning	£199.75
Miscellaneous Computer equipment	£426.89
Printing (Newsletter 2)	£2,902.00
Distributor	£924.00
Total	£5,566.44

Employee Allowance

Allowance	£84,081.00
Transferred from Office Costs	£1,431.00
Total Allowance	£85,512.00
Employee Pay (3 employees)	£71,278.23
Employee On costs	£7,129.35
Employee Travel	£604.40
Research	£6,500.00
Total Spent	£85,511.98
Allowance Remaining	£0.02

Constituency Office, Staffing and Communications Allowance:
2004 to 2005

Allowance	£ 18,569.00
Transferred to Employee Allowance	£1,279.30
Total Allowance	£17,662.70
Rent	£5,165.64
Stationery	£1,561.29
Telephones	£3,705.31
Staff Expenses	£1,157.85
Photocopier	£761.68
Insurance	£497.50
Surgeries	£69.05
Computers	£235.00
Other	£4,509.38
Total	£17,662.70

* Other Costs - Description

Data Protection	£35.00
Airport Parking for AFPS	£40.00
Furniture protection cloth in London Office	£9.99
Books	£10.00
Phone charger	£24.99
Injections for Afghanistan	£35.00
Broadband connection	£146.88
Membership of Research Organisation	£25.00
Office Furniture	£108.04
Office Supplies	£36.59
Office Furniture	£199.74
Shredder	£961.92
Office Furniture	£172.73
Printing of information leaflet re Budget	£195.00
Printer (1 Newsletter)	£1,451.00
Distributor	£1,057.50
Total	£4,509.38

Employee Allowance

Allowance	£70,71900
Transferred from Office Costs	£1,279.30
Total Allowance	£71,998.30
Employee Pay (3 employees)	£64,855.27
Employee On costs	£6,590.24
Employee Travel	£552.79
Total Spent	£71,998.30