Give as You Earn Breakdown by Political Party

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

We can tell you that eight members of the Conservative Party are signed up to GAYE, and five MPs from other parties. Unfortunately, we are unable to give a further party breakdown due to the low numbers involved.

If we did provide this information it is highly likely that it would be possible to identify these five MPs from other information which may be in the public domain.

The information is therefore subject to a Refusal Notice under section 40 of the FOIA.

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

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 is 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(1) of the UK GDPR, it therefore finds that the information is exempt under section 40 of the FOIA.