MPs engaging unpaid interns

Request

I would like to make an FOI request to find out how many paid and unpaid interns each member of parliament has had since May 2010?

Also how many of these interns were on foreign study programmes?


Response

The information we hold all relates to volunteers: individuals registered with IPSA by Members of Parliament for the purpose of claiming for incidental expenses such as lunch and travel to and from work, but who are not entitled to receive a salary.  This includes individuals undertaking work experience, which may be as short as a few days, and those on student placements, or those undertaking internships with MPs.  “Unpaid interns” are, by definition, volunteers and we do not hold information on “interns” separately.  Therefore, the fact that an MP has been included does not mean that they have necessarily taken any unpaid interns.

Each volunteer must complete a volunteer registration via the online expenses system and complete and send to IPSA a model volunteer agreement.

MPs may call some of their salaried staff “interns”. These staff may be paid below the normal IPSA pay scales and may have reduced responsibilities, but must be paid at least the national minimum wage. These individuals are not required to complete volunteer registrations and are not separately identifiable from other salaried staff paid through IPSA’s payroll.   The numbers provided in our response do not, therefore, include any individuals who fall within this category.

In our response to your earlier FOI request of 27 February 2013 (reference FOI2013-A192), in which you asked for the number of interns taken on by MPs since May 2010, we provided a list of the number of volunteers each MP had registered with IPSA to claim incidental expenses since IPSA began operations in May 2010, correct as at the time of your request.  Our response to your FOI request was both provided to you and published on the Freedom of Information section of IPSA’s website.

The FOIA states that information that is accessible by other means is not subject to release. Therefore, as the information you have requested, which has already been provided to you under a previous FOI request, is available on our website, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means).

Annex A, therefore, lists, by MP, the number of individuals each MP has registered with IPSA to claim incidental expenses since the time of your last request.

That a volunteer is registered does not indicate that claims for incidental expenses have been submitted to IPSA.  The information also does not indicate the number of individuals volunteering at any one time, nor does it point to the length of time individuals have been registered as volunteers, although the period will often be short.  We publish details of MPs’ claims for expenses on our website.  You may view the published information by visiting our publication website.  Details of claims for expenses are published in a two month cycle, three months in arrears.

We do not hold information relating to the second part of your request.

MP NameCount
Debbie Abrahams1
Nigel Adams1
Peter Aldous1
Rushanara Ali2
Stuart Andrew1
Norman Baker1
Gordon Banks1
Gregory Barker1
John Baron1
Gavin Barwell2
Henry Bellingham1
Hilary Benn1
Luciana Berger1
Jake Berry1
Nick Boles1
Peter Bone1
Ben Bradshaw4
Graham Brady2
Tom Brake2
Julian Brazier2
Kevin Brennan1
Andy Burnham3
David Burrowes1
Paul Burstow2
Lorely Burt1
Daniel Byles1
David Cameron4
Mary Creagh5
Nick Dakin3
Simon Danczuk1
Geraint Davies1
Caroline Dinenage2
Jack Dromey3
Louise Ellman1
Graham Evans1
Paul Farrelly1
Tim Farron1
Lynne Featherstone3
Caroline Flint1
George Freeman3
Mark Garnier1
Andrew George2
Nick Gibb1
Stephen Gilbert1
Richard Graham1
Helen Grant1
Dominic Grieve1
Nia Griffith1
Ben Gummer1
Duncan Hames2
Matthew Hancock2
David Hanson1
Nick Harvey1
Oliver Heald1
Meg Hillier4
Julie Hilling1
Sharon Hodgson2
Adam Holloway8
Martin Horwood2
Simon Hughes3
Nick Hurd1
Glenda Jackson2
Stewart Jackson1
Margot James3
Andrew Jones1
Barbara Keeley1
David Lammy4
Andrew Lansley1
Pauline Latham2
Mark Lazarowicz1
Phillip Lee1
David Lidington2
Stephen Lloyd2
Andy Love1
Ian Lucas1
Mary MacLeod1
Seema Malhotra2
Kerry McCarthy1
Siobhain McDonagh1
Pat McFadden1
Alison McGovern1
Ann McKechin1
Austin Mitchell3
Michael Moore5
Greg Mulholland5
Meg Munn1
Tessa Munt1
Caroline Nokes2
Stephen O'Brien1
Guy Opperman2
John Penrose1
Dominic Raab2
Mark Reckless5
Rachel Reeves3
Dan Rogerson3
Frank Roy1
Anas Sarwar2
Andy Sawford2
Barry Sheerman2
Gavin Shuker1
Andy Slaughter2
Henry Smith1
Rory Stewart3
John Thurso1
Stephen Timms11
Elizabeth Truss6
Andrew Turner1
Martin Vickers1
Robert Walter1
David Ward2
Gavin Williamson1
Rob Wilson2
Pete Wishart1

Ref:
F1314-118
Disclosure:
9 October 2013
Categories:
MPs' STAFFING
Exemptions Applied:
None