Welsh AM’s second home shake-up
By Liz Stephens
Proposals for a new pay and expenses system for Welsh assembly members (AM’s) will be published later today.
This follows accusations last week that AM’s were using taxpayer money to fund political parties, after details of their expenses were published.
An independent panel chaired by Sir Roger Jones, will make recommendations following an 11-month investigation.
His report is expected to lead to changes in the rules for financial support provided for assembly members and in particular, to tighten up AMs’ second home allowances.
It will also question whether or not the Welsh taxpayer should pay political parties for providing constituency or regional offices to their elected politicians.
Political parties in Wales have been paid almost £500,000 from public funds over the past two years for office space for their assembly members and MPs, despite in some cases owning the buildings where the offices are located.
“We want to get this right – to ensure not only that any new system of pay and allowances is fair, transparent, and recognises and rewards AMs’ skills, but also that it provides value for money,” said Sir Roger.
The panel was set up last August after AM’s were awarded an 8.3 per cent pay rise to recognise their growing workload and responsibilities.
At the moment AMs receive an annual salary of £53,108, which is 82 per cent of an MP’s salary.
John Elfed Jones, who chaired the group which worked out how the Welsh Assembly should operate when it was set up, said: “It’s nonsense that somebody who lives within 30 to 40 miles of Cardiff should claim a second home allowance”.
Almost 2,000 hits were made on the National Assembly’s new online log of Assembly Members’ expenses in the first 24 hours.
