MPs ban public from expenses row committee hearing

Image caption, Ipsa's costs in its start-up year are estimated at 拢6.5m

MPs have questioned expenses officials in private, following an explosive public evidence session last week.

A second committee hearing had been due to be held in public, but a "round-table discussion" took place behind closed doors instead.

Some MPs are upset the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) will cost 拢6.5m this year. Its predecessor cost 拢2m last year.

But Ipsa says its cost includes start-up expenses and the figure will fall.

Chairman Sir Ian Kennedy and his colleagues faced a committee of MPs, set up by Commons Speaker John Bercow, for the second time in a week on Tuesday.

At a hearing last week, several parliamentarians vented their anger at Ipsa, accusing it if running an over-complicated computerised expenses system and questioning its staffing costs.

A parliamentary spokeswoman told the 大象传媒: "The committee has decided they took a lot of evidence last time and would like a bit more time to think about what's been said."

Rather than having a formal evidence session, there will be a "round-table discussion", she added.

Ipsa estimates that MPs' staffing costs and expenses costs may be 拢12m a year lower than under the previous expenses scheme and that its own running costs will be cheaper than those of the old system.