£800,000 spent on paying off former Commons staff

New figures show that the House of Commons has paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds in non-disclosure and settlement agreements with former employees.

The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the PA Media news agency, show that more than £808,000 has been paid out on 15 settlement agreements with departing staff since January 2017. Seven cases included confidentiality clauses, totalling £367,016.

Over the same period, the House of Lords paid £18,421 in four non-disclosure agreements, which are used to prevent the release of sensitive or confidential information.

MPs have called for Parliament to outlaw the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of harassment or discrimination. An independent complaints scheme was introduced in Parliament in 2018, after allegations of bullying and harassment in Parliament were first made public.

Maria Miller, former Conservative Women and Equalities Minister, said: "Allegations of bullying and harassment affecting House of Commons staff have seriously brought into question its management culture. With new leadership of the House of Commons management now in place, it is important that secrecy and cover-up has no place in the running of our Parliament.

"With almost 3,000 people employed directly by the House of Commons, quite separate from MPs' own office staff, this FOI request demonstrates the need for transparency and accountability in the way such payments are being used."

BBC Newsnight claimed in 2018 that the House of Commons spent £2.4 million on so-called ‘gagging clauses’ with former staff in the five years from 2013.