Name of recipient of payments for accommodation expenditure claimed by Tobias Ellwood MP

IPSA holds the information that you request.

Under the provisions of the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), non-London MPs may claim for accommodation expenditure to meet costs necessarily incurred on overnight accommodation which is required for the performance of their parliamentary functions. This may be in relation to a property at one location[1], either in the London area or within their constituency (or within 20 miles of any point in the constituency). You can view the Scheme in full on our website, available via this link.

In November 2012, we responded to a request under the FOIA in which we provided the names of all MPs’ landlords. In July 2014, we responded to another request in which we provided updated information. As we publish all responses to FOI requests on our website, you can find this information via the following links:

• November 2012 response;

• July 2014 response.

As such, these published responses will provide you with the names of individuals paid by Mr Ellwood under the expenses heading “Accommodation rent” since 2010. 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).

Further, under our Publication Policy, from this year we will start publishing (on an annual basis) the names of landlords from whom MPs’ rent properties under the Scheme, and the first part of the postcode for the rented property. This information will be published on our publication website on 10 September 2015.

Personal details relating to third parties, such as their addresses and contact details are their personal data under the Data Protection Act. Section 40(2) of the FOIA provides that personal information about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. For further information, you may wish to visit the UK Legislation website.

[1] In exceptional circumstances, IPSA may at its discretion allow an MP to claim for more than one property in the MP’s constituency.