Decisions 19 May 2008

Present:

The Speaker, in the Chair
Sir Stuart Bell
Nick Harvey
Leader of the House
Mr David Maclean
Mrs Theresa May

1. FoI UPDATE (MEC)

The Committee agreed that the House should not seek leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the judgment of the Divisional Court of 16 May 2008. It was further agreed that the publication scheme announced for the autumn will now include information down to receipt level.

2. REVIEW OF ALLOWANCES (MEC)

The Committee decided that they would not publish their emerging conclusions before the recess. With the debate scheduled for 3 July, they also decided to move directly to a final report without emerging conclusions. Draft conclusions would be considered in the first week of June and a report agreed on 16 June for publication later that week.

3. AUDIT COMMITTEE (Commission)

The Commission approved the re-appointment of David Taylor as one of the external members of the Audit Committees for a further term of two years and the appointment of Clive Betts MP to the Audit Committees on behalf of the Finance and Services Committee.

4. NEXT MEETING

It was agreed that the MEC would meet in the week beginning 2 June to consider draft conclusions on the review of allowances. After that the next meeting of the Commission/MEC will take place on Monday 16 June 2008 at 5pm in Speaker's House.