Freedom of Information

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) anyone has the right to request information we hold.

We publish most responses to these requests on our website, ordered by financial year. The financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

Search FOI responses

We also publish details of claims made about MPs’ staffing and business costs regularly.

Learn more about MPs’ staffing & business costs and our Publication Scheme.

Freedom of information act

If you would like to make a new request, please consider the following advice.

If your request relates to something other than MPs’ pay, business costs, or IPSA itself, then we may not hold the information you are looking for.

We may have already published the information you are seeking.

Details of all claims made by MPs’ business costs are published on this website, and you can search all previous FOI responses.

When making a request, please include:

  • your name

  • an address for our response (post or email)

  • a full description of the information required

If you wish to make an FOI request, please email FOI@theipsa.org.uk.

When we receive your request, we will respond within 20 working days. 

If you are unhappy with the response you receive, you can request an internal review.

Our Freedom of Information publication Scheme lists the types of information that we publish, or intend to publish.

Virtually all of this information can be downloaded free of charge.

Information about MPs’ business costs can be found by visiting MPs’ staffing and business costs and our Guide to MPs’ staffing & business costs.

At IPSA, we wish to be as fair and transparent as possible, and as such we will conduct an internal review of our FOI response decisions when requested.

An internal review can be requested if you are unhappy with a decision we have made to exempt or withhold data in response to your initial FOI request.

If you want to request an internal review, please send an email quoting the reference number of your initial request and the reason for your appeal, within two months of receipt.

The review will be conducted by a senior member of IPSA staff who was not involved in the original response decision – usually the Data Protection Officer (DPO) or Senior Information Risk Officer (SIRO).

This ensures your appeal is considered in a fair and impartial manner. You will receive a response detailing the factors considered as a result of your appeal, plus the findings and decision of the reviewer.

Should you remain unhappy with the decision, contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a further appeal.

The ICO will usually only consider an appeal when it is clear that the first stage of the internal review process has been exhausted.

When you make a request, we need your name and contact details so we can process and reply to your request.

In certain circumstances, where you have asked for your own personal data, we may also need information that proves who you are or that you are entitled to see the information you have asked for.

We are required to process this information to comply with our legal obligations.

We will not collect any personal data from you that we do not need.

We will only use the personal information to process your access request and any follow-up questions and to check on the level of service we provide.

We may need to share your request and contact details with the Information Commissioner’s Officer in connection with any appeal, investigation or audit. IPSA compiles statistics for our internal reports, such as the number of requests we receive. When we do this, it is done in a way that does not identify the person who made the request.

We also publish anonymised responses to Freedom of Information and Environmental Information requests in our FOI disclosure log.

Visit our Privacy pages for more information.

We publish information on the volume of requests received each year.

Financial yearNumber of requests
2019 - 2020150
2018 - 2019120
2017 - 201893
2016 - 2017129
2015 - 2016240
2014 - 2015164
2013 - 2014246
2012 - 2013184
2011 - 201297
2010 - 2011161
2009 - 20108

Annual overview

TypeVolume
Number of requests received 93
Number of requests responded to within statutory timeframe 100%
Average response time (working days) 14
Number of internal review requests received 6
Number of ICO complaints0

Disclosure of information requested

Information disclosedPercentage of requests
Information already in the public domain9.89%
Information not held19.78%
Not released in full14.29%
Released in full19.78%
Released in part36.26%

Requesters

RequesterNumber of requesters
Journalist22
Member of the public63
MP2
MP Staff2
Overseas1
Political campaigner3

Categories of information requested

CategoryNumber of requests
Contingency funding2
Copies of receipts / invoices30
Correspondence4
Debt4
General expenses enquiry3
IPSA – Board1
IPSA – Financial4
IPSA – Operations5
IPSA – Policy2
IPSA – Staff3
MPs' connected parties2
MPs' office costs4
MPs' pay and pensions2
MPs' staffing19
Not IPSA's remit1
Security assistance4
Travel2
Winding-up1

Annual overview

TypeVolume
Number of requests received128
Number of requests responded to within statutory timeframe100%
Average response time (working days)16
Number of internal review requests received7
Number of ICO complaints1

Disclosure of information requested

Information disclosedPercentage of requests
Information already in the public domain10.17%
Information not held11.86%
Not released in full11.02%
Released in full27.12%
Released in part39.83%

Requesters

RequesterNumber of requesters
Journalist39
Member of the public87
MP1
MP Staff2

Categories of information requested

CategoryNumber of requests
Accommodation8
Compliance Officer for IPSA1
Connected parties7
Contingency funding1
Copies of receipts / invoices42
Correspondence3
Debt4
Disability assistance2
General expenses enquiry13
IPSA – Board3
IPSA – Financial4
IPSA – Operations1
IPSA – Policy1
IPSA – Staff7
MPs' office costs1
MPs' pay and pensions13
Office costs6
Security3
Staffing8
Winding-up1

FOI responses

You can search our responses to FOI requests by subject and year.

Search FOI responses

Learn about MPs’ claims

Discover how and why MPs claim for their staffing and business costs.

Read about MPs’ staffing and business costs