They are amongst other things seeking parity of pay with their Westminster colleagues. Start up costs for offices of new MSPs are being muted. A realistic allowance for office property and MSP staff to be paid out of a separate staffing allowance, again they are seeking parity with their Westminster freinds. You may have guessed – yes it is all part of the Scottish Parliament Allowances review.

For those outside of the Central belt realistic allowances are to be made available for housing in Edinburgh. A proposal to provide MSP housing accommodation in the form of barracks or executive flats has been squashed on the grounds of cost and security. No thought has been given to providing accommodation outside of Edinburgh. Nor has any thought been given to teleworking – you would not think we are living in the 21st Century! Why do the MSP’s have to travel to Edinburgh?

Additionally, an allowance is being sought for redundancy pay of staff when an MSP retires or loses his or her seat. A really good summary of what the MSP’s aspire to is listed below in the evidence given by the SNP group of the parliament. If you wish to look for yourself do so here scottish.parliament.uk where you will find 104 submissions!

Here is one of the 104 submissions - - - -

21st September 2007

Dear Sir Alan,

Scottish National Party Group Submission.

Many thanks for your letter of 2 August 2007 inviting submissions from MSPs to the review of Scottish Parliamentary Allowances.

I am pleased to participate in the Allowances Review and this submission is on behalf of the Scottish National Party Parliamentary Group.

Salaries and costs for staff should be separated and removed from MSPs’ MSA allowance. This should be paid directly from the Parliament which would mean that real costs incurred by the MSP would be identifiable and accurate.

At Westminster, MPs’ have a maximum of £90,000 to spend on staffing costs, £21,000 on Office Costs, £10,000 on Communications and £37,000 on winding up whilst in the Scottish Parliament MSPs have a maximum of £60,000 to spend on staffing, office costs and stationary plus on a number of other areas.

The issue regarding redundancy payments must be looked at, particularly where staff have been employed by an MSP for three terms. The issue of starting up allowances should be reviewed to take account of the variations in the costs of setting up offices in different localities.

There is a requirement to look at the provision of parliamentary offices since geography makes it in some cases, impossible for the public to engage with an MSP.

Yours sincerely,

Gil Paterson MSP
SNP Group Convener

Article by Charles Litster