Expenses for Merseyside MPs

IPSA holds some of the information that you request.

It is worth noting that claims for clothing, gardening services, domestic cleaning and garden furniture are not claimable under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses.  IPSA publishes details of expenses claims throughout the year in a two month cycle, three months in arrears.  Expenses claims for October and November 2011 were published on our website on 1 March 2012.  Expenses claims for December 2011 and January 2012 will be published on Thursday 10 May 2012.  This information is searchable by date, MP or constituency name and category of expense.  Details of expenses claims are also published in an annualised form after the end of each financial year.  The published information can be downloaded from the website for further analysis and is easily printable.  This can be viewed by visiting the following link to our website. 

The FOIA states that information that is accessible by other means or that is intended for future publication is not subject to release.  Therefore, as the information you have requested (relating to the first part of your request) is either already available on our website or will shortly be published on our website, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means) and under Section 22(1) of the FOIA (Information intended for future publication).

In reaching this conclusion, as required by the FOIA, 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 the information at set dates, rather than on an ad hoc basis, as this way a clear and complete set of information is published, which should also avoid causing confusion.  It is for these stated reasons that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

You stated in your letter that you do not own a computer.  Many libraries, or similar internet access facilities, provide services to access the internet, where this information may be readily accessed.  If you are unable to access the internet by those means, we would be happy to print the relevant pages from our website on your behalf.  However, if this is what you wish us to do, we would first need a full list of the Merseyside MPs about whom you wish to receive information.

On the second part of your request, IPSA’s statutory remit is to regulate and administer the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses and to pay MPs’ salaries.  We are not responsible for regulating the role of an MP and do not hold information on this subject.  You may wish to contact your local MP for more information.