Can anyone spare Ipsa the cost of a stamp?
ON 15 June I sent the following letter to Alan Lockwood, “Independent” Compliance Officer (£78,000 pa) of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa):
Dear Mr Lockwood
I was interested in comments attributed to you in yesterday’s Guardian Online, under the headline, “MPs’ expenses: older generation ‘resisting’ new system”.
You are quoted in the paragraph which includes this text:
He said the system was needed to counter the perception of “enormous fiddling” but that most MPs were happy with it and only a minority “mainly of returning MPs [are] having problems adjusting”.
I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know on what evidence you base your claim that “most MPs” are happy with Ipsa’s new system. I assume that you have spoken to a majority, if not all, MPs in order to come to this conclusion, and that a majority of us have told you we are happy with the system. Was this in writing or in face-to-face discussions? If these discussions are taking place, it is the first I’ve heard of them, since one of Ipsa’s many failings is that it is notoriously difficult to get face-to-face advice from any of its representatives.
The reason I am concerned about the basis of your comments is that I have yet to encounter a single MP – new or returning – who believes that Ipsa is remotely fit for purpose. Indeed every colleague I have spoken to (so far) is of the opinion that Ipsa is a colossal waste of money and that its new expenses regime is petty, vindictive and illogical.
It seems from your interview, however, that you are more in touch with my colleagues than I am, so I would be grateful to view your response to the above points. I accept that you are a man of integrity and honour and so would never deliberately misrepresent the views of MPs simply as a public relations gambit.
Best wishes
Tom Harris MP
Eleven weeks and counting. Fear not – I shall inform you as soon as I receive a response. Or even an acknowledgement that they have received my letter. Or (more likely, bordering on inevitable) a statement claiming that no such letter has been received.