Decisions 18 May 2010
Tuesday 18 May 2010 at 4.15pm in Speaker's House
Present:
The Speaker, in the Chair
Sir Stuart Bell
Nick Harvey
Rosie Winterton
Sir George Young (Leader of the House)
1. PAYMENT OF CATERING BILLS AND HANDLING OF FOI RELEASES
The Commission agreed that catering and retail bills not settled at the time of purchase should be settled by automatic deduction from a debit or credit card on the monthly statement date, with effect from bills incurred in June. It also agreed that, for banqueting/meeting room events, the predictable part of the bill should be paid before the event and a settling-up account be sent after the event, and that in the case of events sponsored by Members for third parties (as opposed to events booked by Members on a personal basis), billing and debt collection should be carried out directly with the third party. A press notice was agreed on the matter.
The Commission agreed that as many as possible of the outstanding responses to Freedom of Information requests should be published on Thursday 20 May, as the earliest day allowing individuals named in the responses to be notified.
2. DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS
It was agreed that the Commission/MEC would meet on the following dates (all at 4.30pm): Tuesday 1 June and Mondays 28 June, 26 July, 13 September, 18 October, 15 November, 13 December.