Information relating to MPs' submission of claims

I can confirm that we hold information relevant to your request. The total value of the claims was £44,090.15.

At the point of submission these claims were compliant with IPSA’s amendment to The Scheme of MPs’ Business and Staffing Costs; IPSA had revised the rules to take into account the difficulties which may arise in providing evidence during the pandemic, for example, travel restrictions preventing access to offices where paper receipts were held.

View the Addendum to the Twelfth Edition of the Scheme on our website.

The list of the MPs is subject to a Refusal Notice under sections 36(2)(c) and 36(4) of the FOIA.

Section 36(2)(c) states that information is exempt if disclosure of the information under this Act:

would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs.

Section 36(4) states that:

In relation to statistical information, subsections (2) and (3) shall have the effect with the omission of the words “in the reasonable opinion of the qualified person”.

IPSA considers that, the list of MPs’ names is statistical information, in that it is the product of analysis of claims submitted within the revised rules.

IPSA takes its transparency obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 very seriously. We are aware that disclosing the names of the 84 MPs would allow the public to understand how public finances were being managed and how MPs operated during the pandemic; it would also enable the constituents of those 84 MPs to specifically understand the operation of their local elected representative.

IPSA has already disclosed the number of MPs in response to your previous request (RFI-202103-01), and details of all MPs’ business costs are published on IPSA’s website.

IPSA maintains that disclosure of the names of the MPs, who operated within the revised rules, could be interpreted as those MPs having breached the rules even though for some MPs travelling to their Westminster office to collect evidence would have been an offence under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020.

The high likelihood of the names of the MPs on the list being misinterpreted or used out of context would result in additional questions to both IPSA and the MPs on the list. Dealing with these questions would, or would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs, both of IPSA and in particular the MPs. As lockdown restrictions are being eased, MPs are returning to Westminster and a more normal way of working. Many MPs are dealing with a backlog of cases, relating not only to the pandemic but in general from constituents who have contacted them for help as a last resort. Dealing with the additional burden which would be likely to result from disclosure of the list, would mean that many individuals would have to wait even longer for assistance.

Having considered the arguments, IPSA finds that the public interest in withholding the names of the MPs outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this time.