Expense claims submitted by MPs, grouped by size of MP's electoral majority

Request

In a broad block of MPs split by size of majority but not individuals can you please let me know how much those with:

  • 1-3k majority

  • 1-5k majority

  • 5-10k majority

  • 10k plus majority

Claimed in each parliamentary year over the existence of IPSA and its onerous regulations:

  1. Accommodation (be that rent, hotel or other)

  2. Subsistence allowance

  3. Mileage

  4. Staff

  5. ‘Local office’ accommodation: rent etc

  6. Overall totals of allowable expenses both including and excluding office and staff cost

I would suggest that producing this in simple table formats would be the easiest way if providing the information and knowing your suspend should be extremely easy, quick and simple to do.


Response

You may be aware that IPSA publishes all claims for business costs and expenses on our website every two months, three months in arrears.  You can view the published information via the following link to our publication website: http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk/

The following instructions may assist you in locating the information:

  1. Select ‘Search Function’ via the menu bar at the top of the page.

  2. Select an MP(s), Constituency, Postcode or Region.

  3. Select a year and, optionally, month(s).

  4. Select a category of Business Cost or Expense.

  5. Select a type of Business Cost or Expense.

  6. Click ‘Find’ to retrieve the information.

IPSA does not hold information on the individual electoral majorities of MPs. However, using our publication website, you can download details of all claims made by MPs since IPSA was established in 2010 which may enable you to construct the information we hold into the form you wish.

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).

For your reference, the next publication date is 14 May 2015, which will cover those claims processed by IPSA during December 2014 and January 2015.  Claims subsequently processed by IPSA will follow in future publications.

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:
F1415-166
Disclosure:
30 March 2015
Categories:
GENERAL EXPENSES ENQUIRY
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21