Details of travel by Ian Blackford MP

Request

I did send a Freedom of Information request to Edinburgh re the following:

You asked for: Ian Blackford travelled from London to Skye on the 26 March 2020. Can you please let me know how he travelled? By car or flights? Did he charge the cost of this journey to his expenses?

They could not give me an answer but referred me to you. Can I also request information on any other journeys he made between Skye and London since the 26 March 2020?


Response

This information is subject to a Refusal Notice under section 22(1) of the FOIA.

This exemption applies because this information is intended for future publication by IPSA as part of our routine publication schedule.

Section 22(1) is a qualified exemption and requires us to consider the public interest. MPs have a certain amount of time in which to submit their claims, and this period has been extended due to the current situation.

Once claims have been submitted there is then a period of validation and reconciliation, before the information is ready for publication. Information about claims made between December 2019 and March 2020 will be published in July 2020, with remaining information and information on budgets published in November 2020.

In the light of the validation and reconciliation procedure and because IPSA already has schedule of routinely publishing this information, I find that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this time.

Further information about IPSA’s publication schedule can be found on IPSA's website.

Ref:
RFI-202006-5
Disclosure:
12 June 2020
Categories:
MPs' TRAVEL
Exemptions Applied:
Section 22