Senedd’s exemplary expenses procedure

FOR a democracy to function properly, it’s important that elected members are provided with the facilities they need to operate effectively.

Until relatively recently, MPs were not served well in this respect.

Often they were at the mercy of the whips, who would reserve decent office space for those who were obedient.

Sometimes this entailed handing over ballot papers for internal elections so that candidates favoured by the party leadership won.

Fortunately, nothing like that occurs at the Senedd.

Every member has an office in Cardiff Bay and another paid for out of the public purse in their constituency or region.

That’s how it should be.

It is, of course, important that members do not abuse the expenses system – and that’s why it is important that expense claims are published so that taxpayers can see how their money is spent.

We can be proud that from the outset of what used to be known as the National Assembly, details of the claims made by individual politicians have been publicly available in a way that was not the case in the House of Commons.

The infamous Commons expenses scandal that broke in 2009 only emerged because an insider sold the list of claims to a newspaper.

By that time this newspaper had already exposed the morally dubious purchase of an iPod by the leader of the then Assembly’s Conservative group.

He made a donation to charity – and also repaid the cost of the original purchase.

Today we publish the amounts claimed by the 60 MSs in post at the end of the last Senedd term.

It appears that all the claims were in accordance with the rules in existence for how public money should be spent.

Members of the Senedd are aware when they spend public money that journalists and ordinary citizens are able to scrutinise the payments.

This in itself will act as a deterrent.

Readers can make their own judgments about the wisdom of certain claims, but there is no doubt that the vast majority are entirely appropriate.

It’s also important to put the cost of politicians’ expenses in context.

At just over £1m a year, they represent less than 0.01% of the money MSs are responsible for spending.