Request for copies of the receipts for all claims made by specific MPs between 1 April 2018 and 30 September 2018

I can confirm that we do hold information relevant to your request.

You asked for receipts for 3 MPs between April and September 2018. We do not hold any information for Deheena Davidson as she did not become an MP until the General Election in 2019.

I am afraid that information for Phil Wilson and Helen Goodman is subject to a Refusal Notice under section 12(1) of FOIA. This exemption applies because we estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit as laid down in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. For IPSA this amount is £450 or 18 hours.

Expense claims for the 2018 period were made through a different system to what is now in use. This system contains all the information and evidence regarding these claims. In order to provide the information for this request we would have run a report against the name of each MP and retrieved a total of 258 lines of information. We would need to go into each line to see what evidence supports the claim; this could be several pages for each as evidence is in the form of scanned images. We would then need to download all the evidence which has to be done on an image by image basis. We estimate that just checking each of the 258 lines would take about 5 minutes and that, with the need to download images and further check that this would take about 24 hours. If you asked for a shorter timeframe or for information relating to just one MP, we may be able to provide a response within the appropriate limit.

The Scheme of MPs’ Business Costs & Expenses sets out the rules regarding what MPs can claim for in terms of expenses and the procedure for doing so. Any money claimed is paid to the MP and not to their parliamentary party.

You can also see the amount claimed by individual MPs by searching by name.

As this information is available on our website it is therefore subject to a Refusal Notice under section 21 of FOIA, as it is reasonably accessible by other means.

When an MP loses their seat at a general election, they are entitled to three potential payments. All MPs are assigned a Winding Up Budget which covers the cost of them closing their office and concluding any parliamentary business. They are also entitled to a Winding Up Payment which is the equivalent of two months salary. In addition, if an MP has served in the House of Commons for two years and more, they are entitled to a Loss of Office Payment which is the equivalent of twice the amount of statutory redundancy. More information about departing MPs can be found online.

I can confirm that we hold this information for Ms Goodman and Mr Wilson, however it is subject to a Refusal Notice under section 22(1) of FOIA. This exemption applies because this information is intended for future publication by IPSA as part of our routine publication schedule. Section 22 is a qualified exemption and requires us to consider the public interest. All claims are subject to a period of validation of reconciliation and, in light of the current pandemic, this is taking longer than usual. However, it is still our intention to publish this information in July 2020 and therefore I find that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this time.

IPSA does not hold information about the number of days MPs attend the House of Commons as well as protocols and procedures for covering absences. We also do not hold any information about disciplinary matters. All these areas are dealt with by the House of Commons and you may want to contact their FOI Team. Please see their website.