Request for data fields held in relation to expenses, MPs' personal data, MPs' staff

We do not hold a record of data fields held in respect of the categories you have identified or descriptions of those data fields.

The names of the data fields held are determined by the providers of proprietary software supplied to us under the exclusive legal right of the copyright holder.  By complying with this part of your request, we would be disclosing data that forms the database schema, an integral part of the proprietary software, the sharing and redistribution of which being controlled by our licence agreement with our software suppliers.

In IPSA’s view, this information is exempt under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act which states that: “Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).

Section 43 provides an exemption for information which is commercially sensitive.  We have considered whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure and concluded that the balance is in favour of withholding the information.