Pay and expenses receieved during party conferences

Request

  1. Do MPs get paid for the time they spend at their party conferences?

  2. Are MPs entitled to claim expenses for the travel to and from these conferences, or any overnight costs?

  3. If the answer to question 1 is yes, please provide the total cost of this for 2013.

  4. If the answer to question 2 is yes, please provide the total cost of this for 2013.

Response

Members of Parliament are paid an annual salary. Details of the salaries paid to individual MPs can be found on our website, via the following link: http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk/AnnualisedData.aspx.

The rules regulating MPs’ expenses are established in the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (the ‘Scheme’). Members of Parliament are permitted, under the Scheme, to claim for expenses legitimately incurred whilst carrying out their parliamentary duties.

Paragraphs 9.4 of the Scheme, which is available online via this link, states that:

Extended UK travel may not be claimed for:

  1. journeys made on Party business;

  2. travel related to a delegation to an international assembly;

  3. journeys made on Government business; or

  4. journeys made for the purpose of electioneering.

Therefore, as detailed in Paragraph 9.4, MPs are not allowed to claim for any costs incurred as a result of travelling directly to a party conference.

Ref:
F1415-035
Disclosure:
17 June 2014
Categories:
IPSA - POLICYMPs' PAY AND PENSIONSGENERAL EXPENSES ENQUIRY
Exemptions Applied:
None