Background documentation relating to decision on MPs' pay

Request

It is not possible to begin a job evaluation exercise without something to evaluate, i.e. a detailed job description that clarifies individual accountabilities. Please provide me with a copy of the one you used in your recent assessment of MP salaries.

In calculating the level of pay you deem appropriate for an MP, which of the widely available recognised job evaluation methodologies did you employ and what information is available to show the comparisons you drew to reach your conclusion - these will of course relate directly to the job description? If you did not use such a methodology, what information do you have that objectively proves the pay level you have recommended is justified.

What information is available that shows that you considered the degree to which experience should affect remuneration. i.e. should a newly elected, young, inexperienced MP command the same remuneration as a long serving colleague?

Response

All of the information relating to our review of MPs’ remuneration, including the evidence we considered and our conclusions, can be found at the Pay and Pensions Homepage, on our website.

Details on the framework against which MPs’ pay was considered can be found in the October 2012 consultation document, available via this link. Chapter Six (at page 39) provides all the information on how MPs’ pay was considered, including discussion of pay differentiation. The subsequent report, which was published in January 2013 once the consultation was concluded, contains details of responses we received and our position. This can be found on our website.

We have also conducted two further consultations on this issue of MPs’ remuneration, in July 2013 and June 2015. The reports relating to these consultations can be found at the link to the Pay and Pensions Home, above.

The FOIA states that information that is accessible by other means is not subject to release. Therefore, as the information you have requested is already available on our website, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means).

Ref:
CAS-23387
Disclosure:
9 August 2015
Categories:
MPs' PAY AND PENSIONS
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21