Details of MPs employees

Request

  1. Could you please state the date Mrs Price last received payment from IPSA as an employed member of Mr Robinson’s staff?

  2. Can you state the contracted hours that that payment related to?

  3. Could you also please state when Mrs Price was removed from the IPSA payroll?

  4. During her last 12 months as a member of Mr Robinson’s paid staff, could you please state her annual pay and the number of hours a week she was contracted to work?

  5. Could you please state how long Mrs Price had been a member of Mrs Robinson’s paid staff, when she was first employed and the hours she was first employed to work?

Response

I can confirm that IPSA holds information that you have requested.

Brenda Price was a member of Mr Robinson’s staff and was employed in the position of Constituency Finance Officer.

Members of Parliament employ their staff directly on agreed pay scales that are set by IPSA. Practice varies widely among MPs on whether they employ their staff full-time or part-time, and whether their staff are based at Westminster or in the constituency.  Details of the pay bands for each role are published on IPSA’s website.

Some of the information you have requested is exempt from disclosure under sections 31 and 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Section 41

Section 41 provides an exemption to the right of access under the Freedom of Information Act if release would be a breach of confidence actionable by any person.

Mrs Price was employed by the MP.  Information concerning her employment was provided to IPSA for the purpose of processing payroll and other payments due as an employee of the MP.

Although data protection law applies to identifiable, living individuals, in this case, there is an enduring duty of confidence under the common law duty of confidentiality and an obligation to respect the right to a private life under article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Ref:
CAS-156376
Disclosure:
20 December 2019
Categories:
MPs' STAFFING
Exemptions Applied:
Section 41