Chamber and committees

Costs to the Scottish Parliament

The Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament Act 2006 is explained and amplified in the Code ofConduct for MSPs.

There would be anadministrative cost to the Parliament as a result of the new code beingpublished and introduced. It was estimated that updating the code would includeformatting and publishing the new code, printing it and distributing it tothose who are currently on the distribution list and this would costapproximately £1,500. These costs were expected to arise immediately after thenext parliamentary election.

Additional minoradministrative costs as a result of the bill and the new code were expected toamount to £500 and include changes to stationery and letters to membersadvising them of the change of rules. This administrative cost also includesstaff time to present seminars to members and other Parliamentary staff on howthe new code works. This will not be a new or additional cost as staff alreadyprovide presentations and are available to speak to members and staff about thecode and its operation.

Costs will also beassociated with creating the new register. However, these costs will not beadditional costs, they will be the cost of staff administering the transfer tothe new register. Such tasks will be carried out by the existing clerks as partof their duties. These costs are included in this memorandum for completenessto give an accurate indication of the costs following on from this bill.

Each member will require tocomplete a written statement, including details of their registrable interestsor declaring that they have none. Once members have completed their writtenstatements the clerks at the Parliament will be responsible for compiling thenew register. There will be 129 initial registrations and it is assumed thateach written statement will take on average quarter an hour to register. Assumingthat the registration is carried out by a member of staff earning £10 per hour;a total workload of 33 hours gives a cost to the Parliament of £660.

The above however assumesthat each entry in the register will be straightforward. In many cases themember will seek advice from the clerks as to what should be included in theregister. Advice will only be given by senior clerks. For completeness thismemorandum assumes that half of the members, 65, require assistance to completetheir written statement. If each of those requires to speak to a senior clerkwho earns £20 per hour, for half an hour, the cost of this advice would be£650.  

Costs to the ScottishExecutive

It was not anticipated thatany costs would be incurred by the Scottish Executive.

Costs to Local Authorities

It was not anticipated thatthe provisions would impose any direct costs on local authorities.

Cost to Other Bodies,Individuals and Businesses

It is not anticipated thatthe provisions should impose any direct costs on other bodies and businesses.

There will be a small costto individual MSPs in relation to the time that they will require to spendregistering their declarable interests. This time and cost cannot be quantified,however, as it will be different depending on the member and the interestswhich they hold. This will be unique for every member and depend on thecircumstances.

Costs Since the Act Cameinto Force

There are no costs accruedas yet from the act coming into force as the Code of Conduct is currently underreview.

The member will be awarethat the statutory role of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner isto investigate complaints against Members of the Parliament for breaches of theCode of Conduct.  The Financial Memorandum therefore did not anticipate thatany costs would be incurred by the Scottish Executive, and furthermore it wasnot anticipated that the provisions should impose any direct costs on localauthorities, or other bodies, individuals and businesses.

Information on costsincurred by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, are set out in the tablebelow:

We do not hold and are notaware of any costs to the Scottish Executive, local authorities, individuals,businesses or other bodies.

The total cost of designing andprinting the documents for both the Highlands and Islands and Lowlands and Uplands Scotland documents was £6,685.87 excludingVAT. There have been no costs incurred so far in distributing the documents.

The total cost of designing andprinting the documents for both the Highlands and Islands and Lowlands and Uplands Scotland documents was £6,685.87 excludingVAT. There have been no costs incurred so far in distributing the documents.