Question reference: S6W-04450
- Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 12 November 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw on 25 November 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what legal advice it has taken regarding new lease requirements for MSPs’ constituency and regional offices.
Answer
In the course of establishing their
local offices, Members enter directly into a private contract for their
occupation of the premises with a landlord. The SPCB is not a party to Members’
contractual arrangements with their landlords. This arrangement has the
advantage that Members are free to choose premises that they consider suitable
for their purpose within their own constituency or region. Provided that the
rules of the Re-imbursement of Members’ Expenses Scheme are complied with,
Members can recover the cost of the initial setting up and subsequent running
of their local offices under the Scheme.
Whether to have a local office or not and where
that office is within the constituency or region they were elected to represent
is a decision for each constituency MSP or through agreement of regional MSPs
from the same party who are required to share an office under the Scheme.
Members are free to enter into a lease, a
licence to occupy or, for example, a shorter-term arrangement to occupy a unit
which is part of larger premises. Each arrangement has advantages and
disadvantages for a tenant.
When a Member is contemplating acquiring a
local office, they are strongly advised to seek their own legal advice in
relation to any proposed arrangement in order to protect their own interests
and to ensure they are fully aware of the obligations they are undertaking as
they could, at some stage, no longer be eligible for recovery of their expenses
and become personally liable for them. The cost of such legal advice can
be met from the Scheme.
In order to qualify for the re-imbursement of
their expenses, Members must satisfy the SPCB that their private arrangements
are clear in their terms and not ambiguous, are binding contractually on the
Member claiming and do not constitute an unreasonable drain on the public purse
for the period that the Member is able to recover those expenses under the
Scheme.
Legal Services are the SPCB’s solicitors and
are not authorised by the SPCB to provide legal advice on leases or other
arrangements to Members. Legal Services do, on behalf of the Allowances
Office, ensure that Members’ arrangements allow them to recover their expenses
under the Scheme, by checking that each arrangement sets out clearly an offer
to let or occupy specified premises, the term for which the arrangement is to
last, and the rent for the premises. Legal Services provide this service to
assure the Allowances Office and the SPCB that public finance obligations are
met.
The Allowances Office provide advice to Members
on what a Member is able to claim under the Scheme and what is required by way
of evidence of any expenditure to make a claim. For example, where a Member
wishes to claim rent for an office a valid agreement binding them contractually
to pay the rental costs would be required.