Two receipts submitted by MPs for office costs and further information on claims for professional services
Request
Regarding the £4.70 expenses claim number 329900 from Stella Creasy from Asda, please provide a copy of the receipt. Please redact anything required to comply with your rules.
Regarding the £13.20 expenses claim number 335176 from Andy Burnham for 'refreshments', please provide a copy of the receipt. Please redact anything required to comply with your rules.
Regarding the £1,668 expenses claim number 329291 from Ed Balls for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the expenses claims numbers 345064 and 297943 from Charles Hendry for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the expenses claims numbers 343990 and 339639 from Cheryl Gillan for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the £1774.32 expenses claim number 338565 from Claire Perry for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the £3,300 expenses claim number 330990 from Edward Timpson for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the £2,400 expenses claim number 329802 from Gloria De Piero for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the £927.50 expenses claim number from 336579 from Jane Ellison for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the expenses claims numbers 344081 and 334660 from Luciana Berger for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the £3250 expenses claim number 332592 from Nadhim Zahawi for 'proefessional services', to whom was the money paid?
Regarding the £484 expenses claim number 331169 from Shabana Mahmood for 'professional services', to whom was the money paid?
Response
IPSA holds the information that you request.
With regards to your requests for copies of receipts, please find attached, at Annex A, an extracted copy of the receipts requested.
As you may be aware, IPSA does not, as a matter of course, publish images of receipts or invoices supporting claims. We believe that the information we proactively publish on IPSA’s Publication website www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk provides a significant amount of detail. It gives a clear picture of what MPs are claiming for and affords reassurance that claims are both appropriate for MPs to carry out their parliamentary functions, and in accordance with the rules set out in the MPs’ Expenses Scheme.
The table attached to this response (Annex A) provides the information released on IPSA’s publication website relating to these claims, as well as any additional information contained on the invoice and receipts held on record. Please note that in line with our stated publication policy, we have withheld payment details from the receipt. We have withheld this information under Section 31(1)(a) (law enforcement) of the FOI Act. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention (or detection) or crime.
After considering the nature of the withheld information, it is our opinion that were a disclosure to be made into the public domain, it is probable that this information could be traced back to sensitive personal or commercial information which could be used for criminal activity. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of invoice information, there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that as an organisation we are able to protect our service users from the threat of being subjected to criminal activity. It is for this reason that we have decided that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
You requested the names of a number of suppliers of professional services provided to MPs. As you may be aware, MPs are permitted, under chapter seven of the MPs Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), to claim staffing expenditure to meet the cost incurred in the provision of staff to assist with the performance of parliamentary functions. This includes the costs of payments for bought-in services; staffing services provided by companies, self-employed individuals or others not on the payroll, such as self-employed individuals providing staffing cover or individuals contracted to work on specific research projects (amongst many other examples). Please find at Annex B the information requested.
Annex B
Information published on our website, and information released under your requests
| MP Name | Claim number | Supplier name |
| Ed Balls | 329291 | Gordon and Phillips Words and Pictures Company LTD |
| Charles Hendry | 345064 | Wealden Constituency Conservative Association |
| Charles Hendry | 297943 | Wealden Constituency Conservative Association |
| Cheryl Gillan | 343990 | Mrs JLM Mackenzie |
| Cheryl Gillan | 339639 | EJC Advisory |
| Claire Perry | 338565 | Devizes Constituency Conservative Association |
| Edward Timpson | 330990 | By&Large Parliamentary Admin Services |
| Gloria De Piero | 329802 | Parliamentary Research Service |
| Jane Ellison | 336579 | Lindsay Kirkby |
| Luciana Berger | 344081 | Paul Richards Communications Ltd. |
| Luciana Berger | 334660 | Paul Richards Communications Ltd. |
| Nadhim Zahawi | 332592 | IT-Xtreme |
| Shabana Mahmood | 331169 | Elaine Mitchell |
Is this page helpful?
- Ref:
- F1415-045
- Disclosure:
- 20 August 2014
- Categories:
- COPIES OF RECEIPTS/INVOICESMPs' STAFFINGMPs' OFFICE COSTS
- Exemptions Applied:
- Section 31