Information about use of constituency office

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

1. Please provide me with a copy of the licence/agreement permitting the use of the MP’s office by IPSA that has allowed monthly meetings to be held over the past few years by the local conservative association committee and executive.

Please find accompanying the email a copy of an agreement dated June 2022. Some information has been redacted and 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 considered that the following are personal data within this definition: signatures of the MP and the councillor. 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.

And a copy of the licence/agreement between the MP/local conservative association and IPSA permitting the use of parliamentary facilities by the local conservative association such as printers, the Risograph, telephones etc.

Chapter 6 of The Scheme of MPs' Staffing and Business Costs (the Scheme) covers the use of MPs' offices by others.

The Scheme makes no mention of the use of "parliamentary facilities", that is, equipment by those other than the MP and their staff, and therefore this use is not permitted. This information is therefore not held.

2. Please advise the amount paid to IPSA in respect of local by-elections that took place in June 2022 and November 2022 for the use of facilities in the MP’s office by the local conservative association.

Your previous question used the term facilities to mean equipment like printers and telephones. As the use of these is not permitted in the Scheme, IPSA does not hold this information.

3. Please also provide the amount of the monthly payment made by the local conservation association directly or indirectly to IPSA in respect of the use of the MP’s office at Room 11, BTMC, Faraday Way, Blackpool FY2 0JW.

No monthly payments have been made, a one-off payment of £150.00 was made in July 2022 to cover the period from 1 June to 31 December 2022.