Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing legislation to ensure that (a) former Prime Ministers and (b) former Ministers must have served a minimum of 12 months in post before becoming eligible to access the Public Duty Costs Allowance.

Only former Prime Ministers are eligible to claim against the Public Duty Costs Allowance. The allowance assists former Prime Ministers who are still active in public life and payments are made only to reimburse incurred expenses, such as office and secretarial costs, arising from the fulfilment of public duties. The allowance has been frozen at an annual limit of £115,000 since 2011 and the Government has no current plans to change its eligibility requirements.