Request for information on rental business costs for Ben Bradley, MP

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

Please can you provide the following information in respect of Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield:

1. Total expenses claimed for rent in the London Area for the year 2020/2021

This information is subject to a Refusal Notice under the FOIA.

Section 21 – information reasonably accessible by other means

This exemption applies because IPSA publishes this information on its website; see the information published for Mr Bradley.

Section 22(1) – information intended for future publication

This exemption applies to the information which has not yet been published for Mr Bradley for the year 2020/2021, but which will be published as part of IPSA’s routine publication schedule. Section 22(1) is a qualified exemption and requires us to consider the public interest. MPs have a certain amount of time in which to submit their claims to finalise the end of financial year. Once these claims are submitted there is then a period of validation and reconciliation, before the information is ready for publication.

In the light of the validation and reconciliation procedure and because IPSA already has a schedule of routinely publishing this information, we find that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this time.

See IPSA’s Publication Schedule

2. Please confirm how that amount relates to the amount allowable for expenses (which I understand to be set out at para 4.10 of The Scheme of MPs' Business Costs and Expenses 2020-2021 and which appears to be set at £23,010 (if there is a reason this is in fact higher for Mr Bradley, please confirm the reason for this).

3. If the answer to question 2 is that the amount claimed is higher than the allowed amount, please confirm whether overpayments have in fact been made to Mr Bradley and, if so, in what sum.

The information for questions 2 and 3 is subject to the same Refusal Notice as for question 1. IPSA publishes or will publish information in the future about Mr Bradley’s rental claims and these can then be judged against the Scheme of MPs’ Staffing and Business Costs on IPSA’s website

4. If the answer to question 3 is that overpayments beyond that allowed have been paid to Mr Bradley, please confirm whether any proceedings have commenced to recover those overpayments.

This information is not held.

5. Please confirm whether the landlord that Mr Bradley rents from is an MP. If so, please provide their name, or if this cannot be provided for data protection reasons, please confirm that they are an MP and what party they represent.

We can confirm that the landlord is not an MP, however, the actual name is subject to a Refusal Notice under the FOIA.

Section 38(1)(b) – health and safety

This exemption applies where the disclosure of information would or would be likely to endanger the health and safety of any individual. IPSA relies on this exemption to withhold the name of the landlord. IPSA maintains that, if the name of the landlord was disclosed, then there is a high likelihood that it could be used to locate the address of Mr Bradley’s rental property. IPSA has a duty to protect the personal safety of MPs and maintains that in the current political climate the risk to their safety remains high, it therefore maintains that the public interest in withholding the name of the landlord and protecting Mr Bradley outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

6. Please confirm how many people Mr Bradley is sharing the property with (his expenses indicate this is in fact a shared property) and confirm whether any of them are MPs. If so, please confirm names or if this cannot be provided for data protection reasons, please confirm whether they are an MP or MPs and the party or parties they represent.

Mr Bradley is sharing with one other MP the name of whom is subject to a Refusal Notice under section 40 of the FOIA.

Sections 40(2) and 40(3A)(a) – personal data

This exemption applies to information which IPSA considers to be personal data within the meaning of Article 4(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (UK GDPR) which states,

‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly

IPSA name of the MP is personal data within this definition. We then considered whether disclosure of this personal data would breach any of the Principles relating to the processing of personal data in the UK GDPR.

The relevant principle falls at Article 5(1)(a),

Personal data shall be:

a. Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject

IPSA contacted the MP and sought consent to release their name. As this was not forthcoming the information is therefore exempt under section 40.

7. Please confirm how many bedrooms the property in question has.

This information is not held.