Subsection (1) places a duty on the Parliament to publish information relating to salaries, allowances, pensions or gratuities paid each financial year. There is no restriction as to the vehicle used by the Parliament to make this information available. This covers the remuneration of members of the Parliament and members of the Scottish Executive.
Subsection (2) provides that no payment of salary or allowances shall be made to a member of the Scottish Parliament or a member of the Scottish Executive who has not taken the appropriate oath, as required by section 84.
Subsection (3) provides that a member’s entitlement to a salary or allowance is not affected for the period prior to him taking the oath provided he does duly take the oath. Therefore, if a member delays in taking the oath, he will still be entitled to receive payment in respect of the period after he was elected and before he took the oath but not until he has taken the oath. This should be read in conjunction with section 84(3) which provides that if the oath is not taken within 2 months from the date of being returned as an MSP the seat will become vacant, although that section also provides that the Parliament could extend that period.
Subsection (4) provides for a person who was a member of the Scottish Parliament prior to a dissolution of the Parliament to continue to receive remuneration under section 81 in one of 2 circumstances. These are firstly if he continues to hold office as a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body or as Presiding Officer or deputy Presiding Officer, in which case he is treated as an MSP until he ceases to hold office; and secondly, if he is nominated as a candidate at the subsequent election, he is treated as an MSP for the purposes of section 81 until the end of the day of that election.
Subsection (5) allows for different provisions to be made under sections 81 or 82 for different cases. This allows the Parliament to provide for different salaries to be paid to different descriptions of MSPs or members of the Scottish Executive according to any office or position which they may hold in the Parliament or the Scottish Executive. For example it allows the Parliament to make provision for the MSP who holds the office of Presiding Officer to be paid a higher salary.
Commentary Part V: Miscellaneous and General Details of Provisions