Details of any MPs who employ family members

Request

Information regarding MP's who employ family members ("connected parties") at taxpayers expense: I would specifically like you to address and respond to the following questions:

  1. How many MPs currently employ family members to work for them?

  2. What are the names of the individual MPs involved; and the names of the family member who works for that MP?

  3. What is the job title of the family member and what role do they fulfil (ie daily workload).

  4. How many hours per week does the family member work for the MP (i.e. full time/part time hours)?

  5. What is the annual salary paid to the family member employed by that MP?

  6. Is the family member eligible to submit "expense claims" as part of their job role? If so how much is claimed per individual annually for expenses - on top of their annual salary?

What is the TOTAL COST to the taxpayer annually for salaries (including expenses if appropriate) paid to MP's family members?


Response

IPSA hold some of the information that you request.

The term ‘connected party’ is defined in the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’) as:

  1. A spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner of the member;

  2. parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the member or of a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner of the member; or

  3. a body corporate, a firm or a trust with which the MP is connected as defined in section 252 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Scheme can be viewed via this link to our website. The information contained in our response to your FOI request relates to ‘connected parties’ as defined by the Scheme, which includes but does not separately identify ‘family members’.

  1. MPs must complete a connected party declaration when employing staff members, stating whether the employee is or is not a connected party, as defined by the Scheme. There number of MPs who employ individuals who fit the criteria for a connected party for each financial year is follows:

  • 2010/11 – 136

  • 2011/12 – 146

  • 2012/2013 (year to date) – 130

  1. We publish annualised data that includes the names of all MPs who have declared to IPSA that they employ a connected party and the name of that connected party. This annualised data can be found via this link to our publication website.  The annualised data for 2010/11 is already available on our website and the annualised data for 2011/12 will be published on our website on 6 September 2012. 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 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 relation to our application of the exemption at section 22(1) of 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.

  2. The job title for each connected party is also included in the annualised data. More detail on the roles and responsibilities for each job title can be found by visiting this link to the IPSA website and clicking on ‘Sample Job Descriptions’. 

  3. You requested the amount of hours worked for each connected party. In IPSA’s view, providing this information alongside salary information (see paragraph 5) would lead to the identification of the salaries of individuals and is, therefore, exempt under section 40 (2) (personal information) of the FOIA, as it constitutes third party data. Section 40(2) provides that personal data 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. Further information on the DPA can be found via this link to the UK legislation website.

  4. Salary information for each connected party is contained in the annualised data, available on our website. This information takes the form of salary bandings, rather than precise salaries.  In IPSA’s view, information identifying the precise salaries of individuals is exempt under section 40(2) as the information constitutes third party data. Section 40(2) provides that personal data 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.

  5. All members of staff, including connected parties, are eligible to submit claims for legitimate expenses in line with the Scheme. The most commonly claimed expense type for MPs’ staff is travel, reflecting the work that often takes place between MPs’ constituency and Westminster offices.  The Scheme clearly lays out the rules in terms of connected parties.  You may wish to visit our website for more information on the Scheme.  We would wish to make clear that claims for expenses for staff members are not received on top of their salary, but a reimbursement of legitimate expenses incurred in the performance of their duties in support of the Member of Parliament. We publish all claims for business costs and expenses on our website.  Details of claims for expenses are published in a two month cycle, three months in arrears.  You may view the published information by visiting our publication website, which can be searched to extract details of expenses incurred by members of staff.  Below, at paragraph 7, we set out the total annual figure for business costs and expenses incurred by staff members who are connected parties.

  6. The total annual figure for salaries for staff employed by MPs who have been declared as connected parties for each financial year is as follows:

  • 2010/11 – £3,125,236.04

  • 2011/12 – £3,346,280.42

  • 2012/13 (April - June) – £786,480.29

The total annual figure for reimbursement of business costs and expenses incurred by MPs’ staff who are connected parties for each financial year is as follows:

  • 2010/11 – £38,117.79

  • 2011/12 – £41,740.48

  • 2012/13 (Expenses for year to date) – £7,545.83

Ref:
FOI2012-A054
Disclosure:
11 July 2012
Categories:
MPs' CONNECTED PARTIES
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21