Details of claim made by claim made by Helen Grant MP for contingency costs

Request

You made the following request.

Under an above request could I request a copy of the invoices/receipts as per claim number: 666127.


Response

IPSA holds the information that you request.

Under the Scheme of MPs’Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’), MPs can apply to IPSA for a contingency payment where they have incurred a cost which is not covered by the Scheme, but which they consider to be in support of their parliamentary functions.

In this instance, Ms Grant applied for contingency funding to cover the cost of a return flight in order that she be able to attend an emergency debate on the conflict in Syria. The Contingency Panel granted funding for the MP’s return flight.

The following details relating to this claim have already been published.

DateForm No.Expense TypeShort descriptionStatusReimbursed
10/07/20180000666127ContingencyRefund of early return flightAllowed775.45

Please find attached the receipts and invoices submitted in support of the application for contingency funding.

Please note, we have redacted personal information (such as individual staff names and email addresses) under section 40 of the FOIA. Information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person is ‘personal data’, as defined by the General Data Protection Principle (GDPR). Section 40(2) of the FOIA provides that personal information about third parties is exempt information if disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles, defined in the GDPR. The most relevant of these principles is that personal data can only be disclosed where it would be fair and lawful. In this instance, we do not consider that it would be fair to disclose the personal data of the MP and her staff. As such, this information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA.

We have also redacted information under section 38 which, if disclosed, we consider could endanger the safety of the MP. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, endanger the safety of any individual.

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 likely that this information could be used to endanger the safety of individuals. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of this information there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that as an organisation we are able to protect our service users from threats to their safety. In our opinion the public interest in protecting the personal safety of MPs’ outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Ref:
CAS-127706
Disclosure:
13 December 2018
Categories:
MPs' TRAVELCOPIES OF RECEIPTS/INVOICES
Exemptions Applied: