Jan 13 – Number Six: Information On Ministerial And MPs’ Allowances “Is Already In the Public Domain”
The Government has replied to the announcement that the Opposition have given 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.
Number Six says that information that the Opposition has requested is already published in the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, but they are shown in the Parliament pages instead of in the Annex. The Government adds that “given that Mr Clinton is a new Member he may simply not have been aware of this.”
A statement continued: “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.
“It is 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.
“The Government will gladly compile all the information of Ministerial and Parliamentary salaries since 1996 and this will be published on its website shortly.”
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