Invoices for claims by Simon Danczuk MP for phone bills

Request

I would like to make the following freedom of information requests.

  1. A copy of the phone bill submitted by Simon Danczuk MP for February 2016.

  2. A copy of the phone bill submitted by Simon Danczuk MP for March 2016.

  3. A copy of all of the correspondence between yourselves and Simon Danczuk MP relating to the claim for flowers for a memorial service earlier this year.

I understand that this does contain private information so I would be happy to have names (if listed) and the majority of the phone number (except the last 3 digits) redacted, a very reasonable compromise.

Response

IPSA holds the information that you request.

Under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), all claims for reimbursement under the Scheme must be supported by evidence. You can view a copy of the Scheme on our website via this link. As such, we hold all supporting documentation provided in support of claims made by MPs. The following information has already been published on our publication website relating to this claim.

DateForm No.CategoryExpense TypeStatusReimbursed
17/02/20160000488950Office Costs ExpenditureConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalAllowed143.45
13/03/20160000492039Office Costs ExpenditureTel/Mobile PurchaseAllowed86.20
22/03/20160000495031Office Costs ExpenditureConst Office Tel. Usage/RentalAllowed142.37

Please find attached copies of the requested invoices.

With regards to your third request, we have conducted a search of our systems and have not located any correspondence relating to a claim for flowers.

Exemptions applied

Section 31 – law enforcement

We have withheld the order ID, invoice number and other information relating to the financial transaction contained within the invoice under Section 31(1)(a) (Law enforcement) of the FOI Act. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention (or detection) or crime. After considering the nature of the withheld information it is our opinion that were a disclosure to be made into the public domain it is probable that this information could be traced back to sensitive personal or commercial information which could be used for criminal activity. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of information relating to MPs’ expenses, there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that we are able to protect our service users from the threat of being subjected to criminal activity. In our opinion the public interest in protecting the security of MPs and their property outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Section 40 – personal information

Some information relating to third parties, such as personal phone numbers and addresses, is ‘personal data’, as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). As such, we have withheld such information in accordance with section 40 of the FOIA. For reference, section 40(2) provides that personal information about third parties is exempt information if disclosure would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the DPA, where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. You can find out more information about personal data and FOI via guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on their website: http://ico.org.uk.

Ref:
CAS-56029
Disclosure:
29 August 2016
Categories:
COPIES OF RECEIPTS/INVOICESMPs' OFFICE COSTSCORRESPONDENCE
Exemptions Applied:
Section 31