MPs’ Annual Business Costs for 2016-17 and Annual Assurance Report

Date published: 16 November 2017

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority today published figures for business costs and expenses incurred by MPs in the 2016-17 financial year. An annual report on assurance was also published, along with the Annual Report and Accounts.

The overall figures show:

Spending on all budgets - £109.9 million

This included:

  • Office Costs – £11.5m

  • Staffing – £84.7m

  • Accommodation - £7.7m

  • Travel & Subsistence – £5.3m

  • Other - £60k

IPSA’s Chair, Ruth Evans, said:

“IPSA helps Members of Parliament to carry out their role, both in Westminster and in their constituencies. We do this by paying their legitimate business costs within a strong regulatory framework. We publish details of all their spending six times a year, and today, we round up all the spending for the 2016-17 financial year.

“Following the tragic events of June 2016, there was a big increase in the total expenditure on security, rising to £2.5m during this year. It is important that we take the security of MPs, and that of their families and their staff, very seriously.

“Today we are also publishing our first Annual Review of Assurance. This publication contains information on all of the activity we undertook during the 2016-17 financial year to ensure that MPs’ claims for business costs were appropriately evidenced and compliant with the Scheme of MPs’ Business Costs and Expenses. Overall, there is a high degree of compliance by MPs”

ENDS

For more details contact IPSA Press Office 020 7811 6462.

Outside office hours, if your query is urgent please call 07792 242736

Notes for editors:

  1. Figures used in the press release above are actual and have not been adjusted. They may be subject to minor revisions.

  2. Detailed figures for individual MPs are available.

  3. Also published today our routine bi-monthly publication of MPs’ costs and expenses for all claims processed in June and July 2017. The data reflect claims processed in that two-month period and should not be interpreted as a trend or pattern. This includes some MPs who were elected in June 2017.

  4. The overall spend does not include the amount spent on MPs’ Security and Disability Assistance. For 2016-17 these are £141k for disability assistance and £2.5m for security assistance. These figures are published separately as these costs are not attributed to individual MPs.

  5. In addition to the Annual Review of Assurance, we have also published for the first time four individual assurance reports on the IPSA website, which cover expenditure during the EU referendum; pooled services; expenditure on surveys and gifts; and travel and subsistence expenditure. Two other reports – on the 2015 General Election and the employment of connected parties – were published in May 2016. These reports are all available.

  6. IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2016-17 will also be published today.