Invoices for part-paid and not paid claims

Request

I would like to see the receipts and associated documentation submitted by MPs for the following expenses which were part paid/not paid.

Listed by name, date, description given, amount claimed

  1. Oliver Colville, 23/05/2015, Bought in services, 10000

  2. Damian Collins, 17/12/2015, Fees for Noble Purpose, 6000

  3. Norman Lamb, 11/03/2015, Laplace Instruments 96983, 1750

  4. Valerie Vaz, 19/09/2010, parliamentary news and communication leaflets business cards, 1733.13

  5. Eric Joyce, 13/12/2012, [***] Lodging-Hotels Motels Resorts, 896.92

  6. Norman Lamb, 23/03/15, NNDC Business Rates for 2015, 814.13

  7. Liam Bryne, 25/03/15, Blythswood Communications, 700

  8. Roger Godsiff, 03/10/13, Search Facility/completion of design, 538.75

  9. Angus MacNeil, 15/09/11, [***]   Lodging-Hotels, Motels, Resorts, 518.80

  10. Hugo Swire, 06/02/15, ROYAL MAIL GROUP Postage Stamps, 444.03

  11. Charles Hendry, 07/02/13, [***]  Lodging-Hotels  Motels  Resorts  [***], 400

  12. John Healey, 30/07/15, Riasca - printed 18th birthday cards, 390

  13. Elizabeth Anne McInnes, 11/11/2014, LABOUR.ORG.UK Political Organizations, 240

  14. Chris Davies, 31/07/15. Office equipment and stationery, 215.48

  15. Stephen Barclay, 21/07/16, [***] [***] [***] BRAm[***], 181.29

  16. John Howell. 01/06/15, ARCO LTD Mens, Womens, and Childerens Uniforms and Commerci, 168.17

  17. John McDonnell, 01/10/10,no description, 2

  18. Vincent Cable, 26/12/10, banner, 150.54

  19. Daniel Poulter, 07/05/14, [***] [***] [***] [***] Lodging-Hotels, Motels, Resorts, 125

  20. Sajid Javid, 20/06/12, no description, 121.50

  21. Jack Dromey, 05/06/14, HILLGATE TRAVEL LT Travel Agencies, 113.1

  22. Norman Lamb, 23/03/15, [***] [***], 97.2

  23. John Whittingdale, 20/03/15, UPS from Poland, 67.67

  24. Alistair Carmichael, 26/01/15, [***] [***] [***] PREMIER TRAVEL, 57

  25. Claire Perry, 15/04/2016, Preparation of artwork, 56.25

  26. Harriet Baldwin, 27/09/13, Hospitality, 50

  27. Norman Lamb, 23/03/15, SSS [***], 41.82

  28. Khalid Mahmood, 21/07/14, [***] [***] [***] Lodging-Hotels, Motels, Resorts, 6

  29. Bill Esterson, 14/01/15, subsist, 5.25

  30. James Arbuthnott, 18/12/14, [***] [***] [***] [***] Lodging-Hotels, Motels, Resorts, 4


Response

Information already available

We have previously disclosed the invoices for the claims made by Oliver Colville and Damian Collins in response to separate Freedom of Information requests. These can be found on our website via the following links:

Information not held by IPSA

We do not hold invoices for the claims made by John McDonnell and Sajid Javid. Both of these claims relate to expenditure incurred on mileage, for which no hard copy evidence is required.

Further, we do not hold evidence for the claim made by James Arbuthnot. This claim appears to have been a minor payment card charge which was later refunded by the merchant.

Information being disclosed

Please find attached the evidence submitted in support of the remaining claims, all of which were either not paid or part-paid to the MPs in question.

The information published on our website provides the status of each claim (eg. paid, part-paid or not paid); if the claim was part-paid, then a detail of the split between the paid amount and not paid (or repaid) amount should be provided. If the claim was not paid, the published data also include the reason why the claim was not paid.

We have redacted some personal data from the invoices, as well as information which, if disclosed, could threaten the security of MPs, their families or staff (such as home addresses). Please see below for more information.

Exemptions applied

Section 38 – health and safety

Section 38(1)(b) (Health and safety) of the FOI Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, endanger the safety of any individual. As required under the terms of the FOIA, we have conducted a public interest test with regards this exemption.  After considering the nature of the withheld information it is our opinion that were a disclosure to be made into the public domain it is likely that this information could be used to endanger the safety of the individuals who rely upon these locations for accommodation.

Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of this information there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that as an organisation we are able to protect MPs, their families and staff from threats to their safety, which is achieved through our capacity to withhold certain information from disclosure. This is also in line with our stated publication policy.  It is for this reason that we have decided that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Section 40 –personal information

Further, some information contained within the invoices, such as the names of third parties and their signatures is ‘personal data’, as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). As such, we have withheld such information in accordance with section 40 of the FOIA. For reference, section 40(2) provides that personal information about third parties is exempt information if disclosure would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the DPA, where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. You can find out more information about personal data and FOI via guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on their website: http://ico.org.uk.

Ref:
CAS-99871
Disclosure:
12 January 2018
Categories:
GENERAL EXPENSES ENQUIRYCOPIES OF RECEIPTS/INVOICES
Exemptions Applied:
Section 38