Accommodation related expenses for Leo Docherty MP

Request

Please accept this as FOI request for information about my MP Leo Docherty; I would like the following information which it isn’t possible to ascertain from the downloaded expenses.

  1. For all years Leo Docherty MP has claimed associated expenditure since his election in 2017, please list all years he has claimed accommodation expenses for a property located in his constituency, up to and including 2023/24.

  2. For all years Leo Docherty MP has claimed associated expenditure since his election in 2017, please list all years he has claimed accommodation expenses for a property located in London, up to and including 2023/24.

  3. For all years Leo Docherty MP has claimed associated expenditure since his election in 2017, please list all years he has claimed accommodation expenses for a property located outside London and not located in his constituency.

Response

I can confirm that we hold information relevant to your request. Chapter 4 in Part C of The Scheme of MPs' Staffing and Business Costs deals with Accommodation costs.

4.3 Accommodation costs may only be claimed for one of the following at a time:

a. hotel accommodation; or

b. rental payments and associated costs as set out at paragraph 4.4; or

c. for MPs who own their property, associated costs only as set out at paragraph 4.4.

4.4 Associated costs include:

a. utility bills (gas, electricity, other fuel and water);

b. council tax;

c. ground rent and service charges;

d. in the case of MPs claiming under 4.3c, buildings insurance;

e. purchase, installation and maintenance of ‘routine’ security measures, i.e. not those which are now funded by the House of Commons as recommended or further security measures (see Chapter 10);

f. installation of a landline telephone line, line rental and usage charges; and

g. installation of a broadband connection and usage charges.

I have checked our records and can confirm that the MP had registered addresses with IPSA within the constituency from 19 August 2017 to 15 February 2021, then in London from 15 February 2021 to 15 February 2024.

The records also show that there was no address registered with IPSA which was outside London and outside the constituency.

To locate associated costs for these addresses on the published expenses, filter by Category: Accommodation.

Ref:
RFI-202401-01
Disclosure:
10 January 2024
Categories:
ACCOMMODATION MPsBUSINESS COSTS
Exemptions Applied: