Invoices for professional services claimed by Diane Abbott

Request

I am interested in more information about expenses claimed by Diane Abbott.

In particular, I would like to see more detail on spending under the subheading of ‘professional services’.

Please provide me with all invoices, receipts and all other paperwork submitted by the MP and her office in relation to claims for ‘professional services’ since 1st June 2016.

Response

Under the Scheme of MPs’ Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), claims for reimbursement must be supported by evidence. As such, we hold all supporting documentation provided in support of claims made by MPs.

Under the Scheme, Staffing or Office Costs can be claimed for payments for bought-in services (‘professional services’), where staffing services are provided by companies, self-employed individuals or others not on the payroll.

As you will be aware, details of all claims made by MPs are published on our website every two months. The following details relating to claims by Diane Abbott for professional services have already been published. Please click here to download copies of all documentation submitted in support of these claims.

Date	Claim No.	Short Description	Details	Amount Paid	Status
10/06/2016	512103	Cost - Consultuant	fees for writing and research	832.00	Paid
21/07/2016	518569	[*] [*] Consultant	Cost for work by [*] [*]	832.00	Paid
11/08/2016	528580	Professional Services - Priya	[***]	350.00	Paid
11/08/2016	528580	Professional Services - Priya	Priyah Invoice 2	350.00	Paid
16/08/2016	523350	[*] [*] Consultantn	cost of work for [*] [*]	832.00	Paid
12/09/2016	528578	Professional Services -Septemb	Project - [*] [*]	200.00	Paid
15/09/2016	528578	Professional Services -Septemb	September - [*] [*]	832.00	Paid
23/09/2016	532572	Fee for research	writing and research	246.00	Paid
05/10/2016	532563	Camera and Operator	camera operator	720.00	Paid
10/10/2016	535128	Matthew Willgress	fees due for writing and research	832.00	Paid
15/11/2016	544102	Rebekah - Professional Service	research quantitative	754.00	Paid
15/11/2016	544101	[***] -research	november	832.00	Paid
01/12/2016	551543	Rebekah Isaacs fees december	December, writing, research, data	826.00	Paid
07/12/2016	550594	[***] December	December	832.00	Paid
07/01/2017	555997	Matthew Willgress	invoice for January, professional services	832.00	Paid
06/02/2017	572076	[*] [*] Fees	Fees for writing and research	728.00	Paid
10/02/2017	561340	Matthew Willgress	Fees for Feb 2017	832.00	Paid
14/02/2017	561652	[*] [*] Fees	Fees for writing and research	416.00	Paid
10/03/2017	567550	Matthew Willgress Fees	Fees for writing and research	832.00	Paid
03/04/2017	572054	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing and research	928.00	Paid
29/06/2017	592459	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing and research	1508.00	Paid
28/07/2017	608260	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing, research and digital management	1247.00	Paid
31/08/2017	608261	Fees for writing, research	Fees for writing, research and digital management	928.00	Paid
29/09/2017	618189	Fees for writing, research	Fee's for writing research and digital management	928.00	Paid
31/10/2017	618191	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing research and digital content management	928.00	Paid
30/11/2017	623936	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing research and digital content management	928.00	Paid
31/12/2017	630396	Fees for writing, research	Fees for writing and research	928.00	Paid
31/01/2018	637345	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing, research	928.00	Paid
28/02/2018	643132	Fees fro writing and research	Fees for writing, research	1247	Paid
02/04/2018	651355	Fees for writing and research	Fees for writing and research	725.00	Paid
24/04/2018	651349	Fees for research	Fees due for research, stakeholder engagement, writing and event management	1280	Paid

Information withheld from disclosure

Personal addresses of third-parties

Some details relating to third parties are ‘personal data’, as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). As such, we are unable to disclose this information. Section 40(2) of the FOIA 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.

Invoice numbers
Personal bank account numbers
Other sensitive financial information

This information has been withheld under Section 31(1)(a) (Law enforcement) of the FOI Act. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention (or detection) or crime. 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 probable that this information could be traced back to sensitive personal or commercial information which could be used for criminal activity. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of information relating to MPs’ expenses there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that we are able to protect our service users from the threat of being subjected to criminal activity. In our opinion the public interest in protecting the security of MPs and their property outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

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Ref:
CAS-122607: Disclosure:
19 September 2018: Categories:
COPIES OF RECEIPTS/INVOICESMPs' OFFICE COSTSMPs' STAFFING: Exemptions Applied:
Section 31