Section 2: Ministerial leave: amount and payment of allowance
Section 2 sets out the amount of allowance that is to be paid to a Minister on Leave and the modalities of the payment of that allowance.
	Subsection (1) sets the allowance as being six times the monthly salary that the Minister on Leave received in their "first ministerial office", that is, as described in section 1(2)(b), the office they held immediately before being appointed to the designated ministerial office i.e, before being appointed as ‘Minister on Leave’. It also provides that the allowance is to be paid in six monthly instalments, subject to subsections (2) to (4).
	Subsection (2) provides that the allowance is only available where the Minister on Leave was in receipt of a salary in relation to their "first ministerial office". A Minister who was previously unpaid will not receive an allowance as a Minister on Leave.
	Subsection (3) states that where the Minister on Leave leaves the Government (i.e. is no longer a Minister) before the end of the six-month period, they are to receive the remainder of the allowance as a lump sum. This is because while a right to maternity leave for a Minister cannot be conferred, certainty of financial support for the duration of that maternity leave can be provided.
	Subsection (4) states that if the Minister on Leave ceases to be designated as such on account of being appointed to another ministerial office, or dying, the allowance is no longer payable and is reduced proportionately. In such cases, if there has been overpayment, subsection (4)(b) allows that any such overpayment may be recovered.
	Subsection (5) defines when the ‘6-month period’ for the purposes of this section begins.
	Subsection (6) sets out that the allowance is to be paid from either money provided by Parliament or is to be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund, depending on how the payments made in respect of the "first ministerial office" as referred to in section 1(2)(b) were paid. With the exception of the Lord Chancellor, Ministers are paid from money provided by Parliament.