Lord Maginnis of Drumglass

(asked on 10th December 2020) - View Source

Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the total estimated cost of the report by the Conduct Committee: The conduct of Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (HL Paper 185).


This question was answered on 16th December 2020

It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the cost of the report The conduct of Lord Maginnis of Drumglass as most costs cannot be disaggregated from time spent by members or staff on other work.

1. Member costs

The report into Lord Maginnis was considered at two separate meetings of the Conduct Committee, at the first there were other items on the agenda so claims for attendance were not solely related to consideration of this case. At the second meeting Lord Maginnis’ appeal was the only item on the agenda. All members of the Committee attended for that meeting. HL members can claim attendance allowance for participating in a virtual select committee but those claims may also cover other parliamentary work undertaken that day so it is not possible to say how much they claimed for their work on this case that day. Lay members have so far claimed £1,200 to prepare for and attend that meeting.

2. Payments to the Commissioner and her staff

The costs of the time of the Commissioner for Standards and her office in relation to her investigation in to the complaints against Lord Maginnis cannot be disaggregated from her work on other cases. £5,760 was spent in payment to the external investigator who supported the Commissioner in her investigations into the four complaints.

3. Publication

The report was printed in-house on the same paper used for other parliamentary publications by a permanent staff team therefore the small costs of printing this report cannot be disaggregated from other work.

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