House of Commons “Class Register”

Author: “wheresmydad”

Describe your idea:

As an “add-on” to the wonderful TheyWorkForYou site, the ability to see exactly when an MP or Lord has actually been working in London.

What problem does it solve?:

By seeing when an MP is ACTUALLY in Parliament, we can then see if their expenses match up to their workload. eg If they are only there on Wed, to be seen on TV then that’s not good enough, they should be on committees, voting, debating or working in their westminster office if they want expenses!

Type of idea: New feature for an existing project

2 Comments

  1. I would think presence in Westminster is probably a very poor measure of MPs’ performance. I don’t see what’s to be gained from penalising MPs that try to maximise the time they spend in their constituencies; and if they’re answering letters or doing research, why should I give a monkey’s if they’re in Westminster, their constituency office, or their study at home?

    I think at one stage TheyWorkForYou included attendance in the statistical analysis of MPs, but ditched it for exactly this reason.

  2. Gary, the idea is not to penalise MP’s for working in their constituencies, it is to match the expenses claimed with the “business travelling” they do.

    Transparency of all these expenses should be available if we are paying for it. If BT or Tesco have to run a tight expenses system with 1,000’s of employees, then a relatively small “business” called Parliament should be able to manage this.