Texts of all the pay and pensions consultation responses

Request

Please could I be supplied with the texts of all the responses to the recent consultation on MP pay and pensions.


Response

IPSA holds the information that you request.

We publish responses to consultations undertaken by IPSA since it was established in May 2010 on our website, except in cases where respondents have requested anonymity.  These include any letters or emails received from MPs in response to the consultations.  We have already published responses to closed consultations, including the work IPSA has already carried out on the review of MPs’ pay and pensions.  You can access the published information via this link to the Consultations section of our website.

Responses from groups of MPs, such as the Parliamentary Labour Party and the 1922 Committee, in relation to the most recent consultation on MPs’ pay and pensions, have already been published on our website, which you can access via the following link. All individual responses to the consultation will be published on our website in due course, except in cases where respondents have requested anonymity.

The FOIA states that information that is 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 the conclusions and responses to consultations in a complete form rather than on an ad hoc basis.   It is for this reason that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this stage.

Further, as noted above, in some cases respondents to consultations have specifically requested anonymity.  In IPSA’s view, this information is exempt under Section 41(1) of the FOIA. Section 41(1) provides an exemption to the right of access where disclosure to the public of information that has been provided to IPSA in confidence by another person would constitute an actionable breach of confidence. This is an absolute exemption and therefore not subject to a public interest test.

Ref:
F1314-199
Disclosure:
15 January 2014
Categories:
MPs' PAY AND PENSIONS
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21