Request for information on the employment of MPs' staff

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

Seventy-eight members of MPs’ staff left the service of their MP in 2019 and were later reemployed by the same MP.

We are able to provide the information, including political party and number of staff, but against a code for the MP, rather than their name. This is because the numbers are so low that there is a risk of identification of the MPs’ staff if the name of the MP was provided which could be matched with other information in the public domain.

This information is therefore subject to a Refusal Notice under sections 40(2) and 40(3A)(a) of the FOIA.

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

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

As IPSA was unable to find a lawful basis on which it could rely, within Article 6 of the UK GDPR, it therefore finds that the information is exempt under section 40.