Names of MPs with suspended payment cards

Request

Please could I be supplied with the names of MPs who have had payment card limits reduced or cards suspended.

The response should include details of the amounts that were not reconciled, what the money had been spent on and when, and whether it has now been repaid by the member.


Response

I can advise that some 46 MPs have had their payment card limits reduced at some point since May 2010. Some three MPs currently have reduced payment card limits due to non-reconciliation, and three MPs have been asked to make repayments for non-reconciliation of monthly expenditure. Of these three, one MP has made a repayment whilst the other two chose instead to reconcile their statements.

We have withheld the names of the individual MPs under section 40 (personal information) of the FOI Act as we consider that the information constitutes personal data. Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. For further information, please see www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/contents.

We do not keep records of the un-reconciled expenditure that resulted in MPs having their payment card limits reduced in cases where these MPs have subsequently reconciled their statements. The records we do have are for those as yet un-reconciled items of expenditure incurred by MPs whose payment card limits are at present reduced. I attach a copy of these items and the amounts.

Ref:
FOI2011-074
Disclosure:
20 July 2011
Categories:
GENERAL EXPENSES ENQUIRY
Exemptions Applied:
Section 40