Question

To ask the hon. Member for Warrington North, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, whether the Speaker's Committee has the power to withhold approval of IPSA main estimates and business plans; and what assessment the Speaker's Committee has made of the potential impact of an IPSA main estimate not being approved on (a) IPSA, (b) hon. Members and (c) hon. Members' staff.

The Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (SCIPSA) is a statutory body established under the Parliamentary Standards act 2009. It reviews IPSA's annual estimate of the resources it needs in accordance with the provisions set out in the Act.

The Committee must review an estimate and decide whether it is satisfied that the estimate is consistant with the efficient and cost-effective discharge by the IPSA of its functions. If it not satisfied, the Committee must make such modifications as it considers necessary to achieve the consistency specified in the statutory condition.

The Committee considers IPSA's business plans alongside the main estimate but has no statutory power in relation to approving those plans.

The Committee recently published a statement on IPSA's supplementary estimate for 2025/26, which included comments on what could be the practical implications of an estimate not being approved. The statement was published as the Committee's First Report of 2026 and is available on the Committee's website.

A transcript of the Committee's public session with IPSA on 4 March 2026, when it considered IPSA's main estimate for 2026/27, is available on SCIPSA's website.