Amount spent on TV licences by IPSA and MPs

Request

The amount spent by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) purchasing television licenses for its London headquarters and any other office space it occupies in (a) 2008/09 (b) 2009/10 (c) 2010/11 (d) 2011/12 (e) 2012/13.

The number of television licenses purchased by IPSA for its London headquarters and any other office space it occupies in (a) 2008/09 (b) 2009/10 (c) 2010/11 (d) 2011/12 (e) 2012/13.

The number of times IPSA has received a notice that a premises it occupies was operating without a television license, and where that premises was located (a) 2008/09 (b) 2009/10 (c) 2010/11 (d) 2011/12 (e) 2012/13.

The amount claimed by Members of Parliament for purchasing television licenses n (a) 2008/09 (b) 2009/10 (c) 2010/11 (d) 2011/12 (e) 2012/13.

The number of Members of Parliament who have claimed for a television license in n (a) 2008/09 (b) 2009/10 (c) 2010/11 (d) 2011/12 (e) 2012/13.


Response

IPSA holds the information that you request.

IPSA began operations on 7 May 2010 and only holds information relating to claims made or processed from that date forward.  Prior to 7 May 2010, the administration of business costs and expenses was the responsibility of the Department of Resources at the House of Commons. 

For information relating to claims made prior to 7 May 2010, you may wish to contact the House of Commons FOI team at the following email address: FOICommons@parliament.uk.

With regards to your first three requests, please find below the information relating to IPSA:

Financial yearTV licences purchasedAmount spent (£)
2010/111145.00
2011/121145.50
2012/131145.50
2013/141145.50

IPSA has never received a notice that a premises it occupies was operating without a television licence.

With regard to your final two requests, relating to Members of Parliament, you can find this information on our website.

As you will be aware, Members of Parliament are permitted, under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), to claim for expenses legitimately incurred whilst carrying out their parliamentary duties and are required to certify that this is the case before submitting claims.  This includes the cost of a television licence, which can be claimed in relation to both the location at which and office costs expenditure. 

You may be aware that IPSA publishes details of all claims for business costs and expenses on our website every two months, three months in arrears.  The most recent publication took place on 9 January 2014, which relates to claims made between August and September 2013.  Using the search function, you can download details of all claims made for hospitality purposes, which may provide you with some of the information you are seeking. 

The FOIA states that information that is accessible by other means is not subject to release. Therefore, as the information you have requested is already available on our website, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means).

Section 22(1) of the FOIA states that information intended for future publication is exempt from release.

We have considered whether the public interest in releasing the information outweighs the application of the exemption. It is our opinion that the public interest is best served by publishing a full list rather than on an ad hoc basis, as in this way a clear and complete set of information is published, avoiding any potential confusion. It is for this reason that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this stage.

Ref:
F1314-231
Disclosure:
20 February 2014
Categories:
IPSA - FINANCIAL
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21