Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 17th, 2016

[David Natzler]

No, that's correct.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Sometimes you can feel like that in a regular chamber, I guess.

[David Natzler]

Yes, just so.

The important thing, if I may emphasize, is that a minister responds. A member can speak for 15 minutes in a 30-minute debate, but then the minister is obliged to give an answer, which is perhaps even more important than the backbench member speaking. That is his purpose in raising the debate.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

As a member of the opposition, I like that. It's good to have that direct contact with the minister or the parliamentary secretary. That's very interesting.

Going off topic, in terms of family friendly, you may not have the exact stat—and I do appreciate that—but do you know roughly, on average, how many MPs outside the greater London area bring their families to live in the greater London area?

[David Natzler]

No, I don't, and I don't think it's knowable. From the IPSA document recently, I can tell you that 168 members out of 650 had, quote, “336 registered dependants”. That is a dependant for whom they might claim travel to come to London or to have people living here. Now, that doesn't mean that they do bring them and, of course, they may have a split life.

I'm looking at my colleagues. Do you have any sense of that, Anne?

[Anne Foster, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, United Kingdom House of Commons]

No, we don't have numbers, but we do know anecdotally that the fact we have an on-site nursery has given the option to our members to make a decision about whether they're going to bring their family down to Westminster or keep them in the constituency.

[David Natzler]

On the on-site nursery, I think there are five members currently, and you have to book in. It isn't a drop-in facility. There are five members whose children will be here for I think the whole school year.

Can we say vaguely which constituencies they come from?

[Joanne Mills, Diversity and Inclusion Programme Manager and Nursery Liaison Officer, United Kingdom House of Commons]

Not off the top of my head. I haven't brought that list with me, but it is a mixture. We have some who are London-based and others from further out.

[David Natzler]

Ashford, Leicester...I think one of them brings two children—

[Joanne Mills]

They're from the Midlands.

[David Natzler]

— from the Midlands. Presumably he brings them on a Monday. This is a male member. He is a big nursery supporter, which is why we know him. They're here through the week.

Also, of course, London being, if I may say so, different from Ottawa, some members who are members for seats outside London have always basically lived in London. They will have a house in their constituency, so they haven't had to move to London. What they've had to do is find a place outside London in which to spend the weekends. Quite a few members have partners who are London-based because they work in London, so the partner may work in London but the member may represent a constituency in the rest of the country.

It is a very varied picture. We also know there are members who might have liked to bring their children to London if they had been more confident that they could have set up life here, but you have to remember, as I'm sure is the case in Canada, that there is a lot of pressure from the constituencies to have the members visible there in the riding, so it does cut both ways.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Absolutely.

I have some questions about travel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Ten seconds.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

I guess I won't be asking any question.

Thank you for your time. Hopefully we'll have time in the second round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Now we move on to Mr. Christopherson.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Good news, Mr. Schmale: I only have one question. You may get more time yet.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

It's in eight parts.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

No, actually it's one question, one part, straight and smooth.

It's on travel. First of all, do you have the travel point system for members travelling around the country?

[David Natzler]

I don't understand the phrase a “point system”.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

The answer to that would be no, then.

Let me try another approach. This may take longer than I thought.

What system do you have for members travelling within the country, and what is its reporting mechanism?

[David Natzler]

Members can travel on parliamentary duties more or less where they wish. Most members' travel, which is reimbursed, is through IPSA, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Therefore, it's not my responsibility, and so I have to be cautious.

Most members' travel is between the constituency and Westminster. That doesn't include select committee travel, which is paid for by the select committee budget, but if members wish to be reimbursed for travel elsewhere, it is up to them to show that it is for a parliamentary purpose, as opposed to, let us say, a party purpose. If there is some parliamentary purpose—let us say one of their constituents is in prison in another constituency—then they can, as I understand it, reclaim the costs of travelling to that place.

The vast bulk of members' travel is on the fairly simple line back and forth between the constituency and Westminster, and then travel within the constituency, which is also reimbursable.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

What about family travelling with them to the capital?

[David Natzler]

There are circumstances in which travel of dependants between the constituency and London is reimbursed by IPSA. Not much of it is used.

I'm looking at the costs here. It was £52,000 last year. That's—

[Technical difficulty--Editor]

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

There we go. We're back.

[David Natzler]

Sorry. We were interrupted.