My Lords, I too declare an interest as I come to this House every week from Scotland. It astounded me from the moment I was introduced that there was no such scheme to compensate for overnight accommodation, so I too welcome the report.

I have one question. I do not understand why Members of this House who travel from the various parts of the UK should be subject to different rules from those for Members of the other place. The overnight rating, while welcome, is considerably less than Members of the other place receive. The kind of accommodation to which it applies is not as extensive as IPSA sets out for MPs. I do not really understand why those of us who come to this House from other areas should be treated differently from MPs.

I remind your Lordships that this is an allowance that can be claimed, and there are many colleagues who choose not to claim it. I would hope that it would be claimed only by those of us for whom it really makes a difference to our attendance here, rather than by those who seek to claim it just because they can. I thank my noble friend for the report, but I do not understand why we have not followed the IPSA guidance.