Question

To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what steps IPSA has taken to make its processes more efficient for hon. Members and their staff.

IPSA provides financial support to enable MPs to perform their parliamentary and constituency work. We aim to do this as efficiently as possible and to minimise the burden on MPs, consistent with our duty to assure the public that all MPs’ business costs are legitimate, supported by evidence and subsequently published.

IPSA took a number of steps in 2014-15 to achieve this objective. This included expanding the use of the payment card, permitting MPs to use the card for any eligible cost under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’) and providing additional telephone support by opening our phone lines from 10am till 5pm, including over the weekend during the General Election, to ensure that MPs could get help and assistance as and when they needed it.

IPSA have also provided more training for MPs and their staff on our system and have participated in roadshows and seminars across the country to meet MPs’ staff and explain how our rules and systems operate. IPSA have also held drop-in sessions at Portcullis House for MPs and their staff.

All these measures have help to reduce the time that MPs and their staff spend making claims. IPSA are now undertaking a more wide-ranging review of both IT and business services to see where further efficiencies can be made, and to continue to improve the support that it provides to MPs and their staff.