Submitted on Friday 23rd October 2020
Rejected on Friday 30th October 2020
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: irrelevant (see below for details)
End MP Meal Allowance Subsidies and Expenses Claims
In light of the government's decision to not extend / introduce new allowances for free school meals for children due to lack of available funding, it would be unethical to allow MPs (whom are very wealthy) to claim any subsidy or expense allowing them free or discounted meal.
When food bank use is at a record high due the stagnant wages rises and other factors including Coronavirus, it would be unethical to allow MPs to to claim effectively a free meal when children at a critical in their development go hungry. Particularly when studies show academic performance suffers when children go hungry and this almost exclusively affects those from an poorer and underprivileged backgrounds.
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The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
The UK Government and Parliament aren't responsible for setting MPs' pay or expenses. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is responsible for deciding on MPs' expenses and pay. IPSA is independent of both Parliament and Government.
You can find out more about IPSA here: www.theipsa.org.uk/about-us/
MPs may claim for the cost of purchasing food and non-alcoholic drinks where they have stayed overnight outside the London Area and their constituency. This is limited to £25 for each night they have stayed, but the claims can be for purchases made during the day.
We have published the following petition, which you might like to sign:
Increase food and drink prices for MPs in House of Commons catering venues: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/555565
The House of Commons Catering service does not provide a subsidised service in the commercial sense of the word. Some venues make a profit, while in other venues the cost of providing the service does exceed the income received in sales due to the irregular hours and unpredictability of parliamentary business. The House of Commons publishes details of the cost of House of Commons catering services: www.parliament.uk/site-information/foi/transparency-publications/hoc-transparency-publications/catering-services/transparency-reporting-catering-services/
Customers of the House of Commons Catering Services include some of the 650 MPs but also around 14,500 other pass-holders, many of whom are staff on lower wages that work irregular hours. In addition, members of the public and non pass holding visitors to Parliament also have access to these services. The irregular hours and the unpredictability of Parliamentary business contribute to increasing the net cost of providing a catering service. To offset this many of the restaurants, dining room facilities and their staff, are used to cater for private events at times when they are not required by the House. This is one of a number of measures used to reduce costs.
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