Information about pooled staffing services

Request

Under the terms of the Scheme of MPs’ Business Costs and Expenses MPs can claim the costs of payments for pooled staffing services, which provide research, briefing and drafting services to groups of MPs. Could you please give me a list of all services registered with IPSA as of 22 May 2021? Could you also please give me the total number and value of subscribers to each of these services for 2019-20, 2020-21 and for the current year to date? And can you tell me the number of staff employed by each of these services as of 22 May 2021?

Response

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

The following pooled services are registered with IPSA as of 22 May 2021:

  • European Research Group

  • Scottish National Party (SNP) Research Group

  • Parliamentary Research Service (PRS)

  • Policy Research Unit (PRU)

  • Parliamentary Support Team (PST)

To view the claims made by MPs who subscribe to these services please see the annual publication information.

Using the drop-down menu at the top of the page, you will need to select a financial year alongside the option for "individual claims", which will open a spreadsheet containing all individual claims made that financial year. You can filter on either the "Details" or "Short Description" columns for the individual pooled service and therefore identify relevant claims and the MPs who made them.

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

The pooled services are separate organisations from IPSA and therefore we do not hold any information about their staff.

Ref:
RFI-202105-19
Disclosure:
27 May 2021
Categories:
MPs' OFFICE COSTSGENERAL EXPENSES ENQUIRY
Exemptions Applied:
Section 21