By Liz Stephens

The cost of running the Houses of Parliament decreased by over £30 million last year to just under £500 million.

The bill reduction came largely from the House of Lords, whose running costs were reduced by £46 million.

The decrease was due to the amount spent on “other administration costs” according to information released in a written answer to Viscount Tenby from Baroness Royall, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

However, the cost of running the House of Commons actually increased by over £12 million.

The biggest single outgoing was MP’s salaries and pensions which cost the British taxpayer £157.2 million – £6 million more than the previous year.

It is expected that the running costs of the House of Lords will decrease yet further during the next year, owing to the opening of the new UK supreme court opposite the Houses of Parliament in what was formerly the Middlesex Guildhall.

The supreme court will bring to an end the role of the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the UK and complete the separation of the judicial function of the courts from the legislative function of parliament.

However, the cost of the new court to the taxpayer will be £12.3 million a year – costs that were largely subsumed into the overall running costs for the House of Lords while appeal hearings were taking place there.