On 8 November 2022, the Government announced that the publicly available parliamentary Expenditure Report produced by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) for expenses from 1 July 2022 would be postponed until the second half of 2023 due to a delay in finalising the build of the expenditure reporting module in the Parliamentary Expenses Management System (PEMS).
The Government confirmed that PEMS continues to be fully functional for expense processing and budget management and that Parliamentarians can rely on PEMS to submit and track expense claims and manage budgets.
Ministerial and Parliamentary Services (MaPS) and IPEA are available to provide further assistance and support on using PEMS, including information on how Parliamentarians can monitor budget expenditure.
What does this mean for me?
You should continue to use PEMS for all HR processing as well as office and travel expense claims. You are able to track the progress of claims and expenditure against budgets through PEMS.
Will the data from PEMS be publicly reported?
Yes, the Expenditure Reports produced by IPEA for the period from 1 July 2022 will be available from the second half of 2023. The Expenditure Reports will cover expenses from the 2022/2023 financial year.
Once the report module is built in PEMS, the backlog of quarterly Expenditure Reports will flow to Parliamentarians for checking before public release. The first Expenditure Report that you will be asked to review and certify will be for the July to September 2022 quarter.
What will the public reports under PEMS look like?
Finance and IPEA are working together to ensure that the look, feel and content of expenditure reporting will be similar to current reports.
How do I track my budget reports without the Monthly Management Reports?
Staffing and claims information contained in previous monthly reports is available electronically in PEMS. You can view and check this information at any time in PEMS.
For further guidance on how to access the information please refer to attached Budget and Expenditure Reports factsheet.
Can I rely on the data in the system?
Yes, the data entered into the system is correct as entered and submitted by you and your staff.
You can continue to monitor claims and your budgets in PEMS, and if a claim has been entered incorrectly, staff from MaPS and IPEA are available to assist you and your staff to update the claim.
Any adjustments to a claim will flow through to the relevant budget.
Will I be required to certify my claims?
Each time you submit a claim through PEMS, you are certifying the claim has been made in line with your requirements and obligations under the Parliamentary Business Resources framework.
What additional training or support can I access?
MaPS and IPEA are available to provide tailored assistance to you and your office to assist with setting up dashboards, how to access budget reports and submitting claims.
MaPS and IPEA will hold information sessions in the last couple of weeks of parliamentary sittings for 2023 on:
- Thursday 24 November 2022
- Friday 25 November 2022
- Monday 28 November 2022
- Tuesday 29 November 2022
Further training sessions will also be held in the first two weeks of December and again in early 2023 – this will be a mixture of face-to-face and face-to-screen sessions.