Thursday 9 October 2008

Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak):  

To ask the Leader of the House, how much on average, staff of hon. Members received in redundancy payments in each of the last 10 years.

Chris Bryant:

Most redundancies involving hon. Members' staff arise from a Member leaving the House at a General Election. Members' staff contracts specify that when a redundancy occurs the amount payable is set at the statutory rate, which is linked to a formula which takes account of salary, length of service and age.

In addition, Members can, at their discretion, top-up or match this contractual entitlement from their Parliamentary allowances, or make a discretionary payment where there is no eligibility to a payment at the statutory rate.

The average redundancy payment in each year since 2003/04 was as follows:-

2003/04 £3,251
2004/05 £3,420
2005/06 £3,262
2006/07 £5,194
2007/08 £3,922

Information is not readily available for prior years.