Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

One of the least noticed parts of the new MPs' expenses scheme published this week by has been section on the "winding up" payments for MPs who have either stood down or been defeated at the election. These are the payments (up to Β£40,609) to cover the running down of operations by departed parliamentarians - salaries etc for staff who continue to work for a former member, for up to two months after they have ceased to be MPs, office rent, electricity bills etc, for a similar period, and other incidental expenses.

It would even cover wiping confidential data from computers and shredding confidential documents - but it would not extend to the cleaning or redecoration of constituency homes, prior to sale. The thinking is that many ex-MPs will still have unfinished business, like constituency casework, that will need to be dealt with.

The new limits will not apply after the coming election; they will come into force for MPs who leave the Commons after that. But some eagle eyed Members have spotted that the new rules would give two months notice to staff - and at the moment the standard Commons staff contract requires 12 weeks notice. I suppose the terms of the contracts may now have to be changed, but union sources suggest that IPSA hasn't thought through the legalities here.

And if there is a hung parliament, followed by a second election this year, those changes could bite pretty soon. (And by the way, there's another nasty little issue which could face MPs with the choice of cutting staff numbers or cutting staff pensions.)

In the meantime, a series of new clauses putting the IPSA code into law are to be inserted into the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, with the aim of getting them through in the "washup" in the last couple of days of this Parliament. The worry is that hasty legislation could reverberate rather nastily in MPs own offices, when the new Parliament is convened...

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