Copies of five receipts claimed by Chuka Umunna MP for office costs

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act, could I please see copies of the receipts for the following for Chuka Umuuna MP during 2014-2015:-

PAPER ROUND LTD Lawn and Garden Supply Stores, Nurseries claim number 380430 LAMBETH INTERNET PAYM Government Services-Not Elsewhere Classified claim no. 356569

Members mobile phone bill claim no. 361084

August Banner invoice for stationery on 17/07/14

September Banner invoice for stationery on 25/11/14


Response

IPSA holds the information that you request.

As you will be aware, we publish details of all claims made by MPs under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’) on our publication website.

Paragraph 1.1 of the Scheme states that all claims for reimbursement under the Scheme must be supported by evidence. As such, please find click here to download all documentation submitted by Mr Umunna in support of the claims listed in your request.

We have withheld a small amount of information, such as account numbers, 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 information relating to MPs’ expenses there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that we are able to protect our service users from the threat of being subjected to criminal activity. In our opinion the public interest in protecting the security of MPs’ and their property outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

We have also withheld a small amount of personal data under section 40(2) of the FOIA. Section 40(2) provides that personal information 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, you may wish to visit the UK Legislation website.

Ref:
CAS-19718
Disclosure:
9 July 2015
Categories:
COPIES OF RECEIPTS/INVOICES
Exemptions Applied:
Section 31