Sir Lindsay Hoyle demands no bonuses for Parliament’s restoration chiefs as work struggles to make progress

He stepped in amid controversy over the performance-related pay-outs to directors on the Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority.
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Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has told Parliament’s restoration chiefs not to hand out bonuses this year as the multi-billion pound project struggles to make progress.

He intervened amid controversy over the performance-related pay-outs to directors on the Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority.

David Goldstone, the chief executive of the RRDA, got performance related awards totalling £168,000, over two years.

He was on a base salary of £300,000 in 2021/22, and his contractual entitlement for an annual performance award was 60 per cent of this, or £180,000.

Six other executives were given bonuses of between £45,000 and £86,000.

But the huge restoration project has been hit by delays, mainly because MPs have failed to choose from a series of options to modernise the Palace of Westminster.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee has probed the costs of the scheme and funds paid so far.

In a letter to its chairwoman, Dame Meg Hillier MP, Commons chiefs revealed the proposed ban on bonuses.

“The Speaker of the House of Commons, writing on behalf of the House of Commons Commission, wrote to the Chair of the Delivery Authority Board in December 2023 to request, in light of the current economic climate, that the Delivery Authority’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee not make any performance awards for 2023/24,” they said.

“The Committee has confirmed it will consider the letter and respond in due course.”

Sir Lindsay chairs the Commons Commission which runs the Commons.

The letter also told the spending watchdog committee that performance awards for 2022/23 were capped, “with the majority of colleagues receiving an amount up to 25% of their contractual entitlement”.

The delivery authority, which formally started work in 2020, has also been told to “give reasonable notice” of any proposal to make future bonus payments.

MPs voted in 2018 to leave Westminster to allow a multi-billion pound refurbishment of the historic building.

A Commons motion calling for a “full and timely decant”, designed to allow essential repairs, was passed by 236 votes to 220.

A review by accountants Deloitte in 2014 estimated:

* The cost of repairs with a full decant at between £3.5bn and £3.9bn.

* A partial decant between £3.9bn and £4.4bn.

* And a rolling programme of works up to £5.67bn but this would take 32 years.

The renovation work, to replace ageing electric, water and sewerage systems, as well as crumbling parts of the estate, was not due to start until 2025.

But MPs have dragged their feet over pressing ahead with the huge scheme whose costs may have spiralled.

The House of Commons Commission expressed concern about the cost and schedule presented in 2022, estimated to be £7 billion to £13 billion, and expected to take 19 to 28 years to complete with the Palace needing to be vacated for 12 to 20 years.

The R&R programme is now “focused on” providing fully costed proposals for the Houses to agree in 2025, “underpinned by a detailed business case”.

A spokesperson for Parliament’s Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority said: “The Delivery Authority’s Nominations and Remuneration Committee, which is the Board Committee responsible for the organisation’s pay and remuneration, are considering The Speaker’s request at their next meeting, in February.”

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