MPs allowances already public - Govt

Information on ministerial and MPs allowances is already in the public domain, the Government has said in response to Opposition calls for the information to be published.

On Tuesday, GSD MP Roy Clinton gave notice of a motion which calls for the publication of the allowances of Ministers and Members of Parliament in the Annex to the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.

But, in a statement, the Government said that the information that Mr Clinton has requested is already published in the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, although they are shown in the Parliament pages instead of in the Annex.

“Given that Mr Clinton is a new Member he may simply not have been aware of this,” No. 6 Convent Place said.

“Indeed, it has been the practice for many years, including when the GSD was in Government, for the figure relating to salaries and allowances of Ministers and MPs to be published in the Parliament section of the Estimates book in this way. This is public information.”

The Government added that it was “rather odd” from a procedural point of view, that the Opposition should seek to make this suggestion by way of Motion rather than by raising the matter in a parliamentary question or in the Select Committee on Parliamentary Reform once this has been re-established.

Nonetheless, the Government said it will “gladly” compile all the information of Ministerial and Parliamentary salaries since 1996 and this will be published on its website shortly.