Expenses claimed for attending remembrance services

IPSA holds some of the information that you request.

1. The names and constituencies of those Members of Parliament (Commons and Lords) who claimed, or will claim any form of expense (including mileage, subsistence or other incidentals such as contributions to any related charity, poppies bought, etc) specifically relating to the Remembrance ceremonies.

2. The amounts claimed by the above Members, broken down into the details described above

IPSA is not the authority responsible for making payments to Members of the House of Lords. To request this information you may wish to contact the House of Lords FOI team, via the following email address: FOILords@parliament.uk.

Claims for charitable donations or for purchasing wreaths or flowers would not be a claimable cost under the Scheme.

Members of Parliament are permitted, under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), to claim for journeys that are made in support of their parliamentary functions, which may include claims for journeys which you describe above.

IPSA publishes claims for business costs and expenses on our website every two months, three months in arrears. You may view the published information via this link to our publication website.  The next publication date is 9 January 2014, which covers those claims processed by IPSA during August and September 2013.  Claims subsequently processed by IPSA will follow in future publications. 

The FOIA states that information that is easily 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).

Section 22(1) of the FOIA states that information intended for future publication is exempt from release.  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 a full list rather than on an ad hoc basis, as in this way a clear and complete set of information is published, avoiding any potential confusion. It is for this reason that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this stage.

1. The locations of the ceremonies they attended

2. Similar expenses claimed for any other person included in their group as attendees

3. The names and constituencies of those Members Of Parliament (Commons and Lords) who attended Remembrance ceremonies but have either not claimed expenses outlined above, or have contributed all their expenses for the day to related charities.

4. The names and constituencies of those Members of Parliament who did not attend any Remembrance Ceremony over the period stated above

IPSA does not hold information relating to the attendance or non-attendance of Members of Parliament, or other individuals, to ceremonies or, therefore, to the location of ceremonies that Members of Parliament may have attended.  Nor does IPSA hold information on donations made by Members of Parliament.