Hansard

I believe that the last time that the Parliament discussed what we commonly refer to as Short money was on 2 June 1999—indeed, that was one of the first debates that the newly established Parliament had. The debate was about modifications to schedules 4 and 5 to the Scotland Act 1998, but the discussion was dominated by the subject of Short money.

I hope that today’s debate will be more straightforward than the original one in that, as we have just heard, the proposed bill seeks simply to transfer administrative oversight of the scheme to the corporate body. I also hope that members will agree that such a move makes sense, given that, for the past 20 years, the SPCB has been funding the scheme as part of its budget.

At this point, I had hoped to give a quick history lesson on the background to the scheme, but Bill Kidd has stolen my thunder. Nevertheless, I will proceed. As we know, Short money was introduced by Harold Wilson’s Government in March 1975, following a commitment in the Queen’s speech of 12 March 1974. Its purpose was to enable non-Government parties more effectively to fulfil their parliamentary functions by providing funding for staffing of the Opposition leaders’ and chief whips’ offices and for research assistance for shadow front-bench spokespersons.

As members will be aware from the previous speech, an order in council made under the Scotland Act 1998 sets out the financial assistance that the corporate body must pay to non-Government parties—and, I highlight, to junior coalition parties, as we found when funding was available for the Liberal Democrats during the Labour-led Administration. The funding, which is commonly referred to as Short money, assists members to perform their parliamentary duties. In the Scottish Parliament, it is for individual parties to determine how the funding is used, provided that it is used for parliamentary purposes.

Responsibility for setting the terms of the order and, therefore, the amount of Short money currently lies with the Scottish ministers. The order in council that provided for the existing scheme has been in place since 1999. Previously, if any changes were to be made to the arrangements, such an order would have required approval by Westminster and Holyrood before being approved by Her Majesty. The Scotland Act 2016 changed that position, and approval by Westminster is no longer required; only the Scottish Parliament needs to approve a Short money order.

The corporate body considers that the arrangements that are provided for in the 2016 act are still not wholly satisfactory, because the power over funding arrangements was transferred to the Scottish ministers. Given that the funding is provided by the corporate body, we consider that that body is best placed to oversee the arrangements. That would be similar to the corporate body’s responsibility for the administration of the members’ salaries scheme and the reimbursement of members’ expenses scheme.

It is important to note that it might not be considered appropriate, as a matter of principle, for the Scottish Government to have the power to determine funding for non-Government political parties. By contrast, the corporate body consists of representatives who are elected by all MSPs and who act in a politically neutral manner, so it might be thought that the corporate body is better placed to take decisions and promote actions in respect of the funding of non-Government parties. Therefore, the proposal is that, instead of the Scottish ministers having control, the corporate body should regulate the Short money provisions.

I am very grateful to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee for the work that it has already undertaken on the matter, and I am pleased that it agrees that such a change to the existing arrangements should be made.

It is important to stress that the corporate body sees the proposed bill as providing for a very narrow change to the control of the regime and not to the regime itself. I hope that members agree that the corporate body has a proven track record in the administration of similar issues. The corporate body oversees the reimbursement of members’ expenses scheme, and it is to the credit of the allowances office and members that we have not faced some of the issues that have impacted other legislatures. Similarly, the corporate body operates the members’ salary scheme, and, with Parliament’s support, we have overseen measures to detach ourselves from other Parliaments’ arrangements and to establish our own.

Over the past 20 years, the corporate body has provided the funding for the Short money scheme. The funding is based on a formula and is currently set at £8,700 per member of the qualifying party group. In relation to accountability, at the end of each year, all parties that are in receipt of funding are required to provide audit certificates, which are published annually on the Parliament’s website, confirming that the amount that has been spent has been used for parliamentary purposes. I am pleased to say that that has been the case.

I know that members consider that changes should be made to the existing funding arrangements. However, the scope of the proposed bill is solely to make provision for oversight of the scheme to be determined by the corporate body in the future. I hope that members agree that what is proposed is sensible. The corporate body already funds the scheme and is politically neutral on such matters, which is important. I hope that members will support the proposed bill.