Chloe Smith MP staffing arrangements

IPSA holds the information that you request.

Ms Smith currently employs four individuals on permanent contacts across her Westminster and constituency offices, three of whom are full-time and one of whom is part-time.

Volunteers are registered with IPSA by Members of Parliament for the purpose of claiming for incidental expenses such as lunch and travel to and from work, but who are not entitled to receive a salary.  This includes individuals undertaking work experience, which may be as short as a few days, and those on student placements, or those undertaking internships with MPs.  “Unpaid interns” are, by definition, volunteers and we do not hold information on “interns” separately. Each volunteer must complete a volunteer registration via the online expenses system and complete and send to IPSA a model volunteer agreement.

Since May 2010, Ms Smith has submitted four volunteer registrations to IPSA.  This does not indicate the number of active volunteers in Ms Smith’s office.  MPs are not obliged to specify an end date on volunteer registrations, nor are they required to inform IPSA when a volunteer registration is no longer active.  We do not therefore hold any information on the number of individuals currently volunteering in Ms Smith’s office.

You also asked whether Ms Smith employed any friends or family.  We do not hold specific information on friends or family employed by Members of Parliament.  However, 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 this response relates to ‘connected parties’ as defined by the Scheme, which includes but does not separately identify ‘family and friends’.

We can confirm that none of the individuals currently employed by Ms Smith are connected parties.