MPs’ Business Costs and Expenses for February-March 2019, and Professional Services Assurance Report

Date published: 11 July 2019

As part of its routine publication of MPs’ business costs and expenses, IPSA has today released details of all claims, paid and unpaid, processed in the two month period from February to March 2019.

For details of all claims, including those published today, please click here.

IPSA regularly looks at various aspects of its work. A new report published today sets out the findings of IPSA’s review into use of professional services by MPs. An MP may use their staffing or office costs budget to claim for professional services to support their parliamentary work. These services can be in addition to those provided by the MP’s staff or may be services not included in IPSA’s standard job descriptions and roles. This report, and previous assurance reports, can be found here.

ENDS

For more details contact IPSA's Press Office on 020 7811 6462 or email communications@theipsa.org.uk

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Notes to Editors:

1. The data reflects claims processed in this two month period and should not be interpreted as a trend or pattern.

2. The data for individual claims is stored on the website by the date on which a cost is incurred.

3. IPSA was created in 2009 by the Parliamentary Standards Act. The Act was amended in 2010 by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. Together they gave IPSA three main responsibilities:

  • To regulate MPs’ business costs and expenses.

  • To determine MPs’ pay and pension arrangements.

  • To provide financial support to MPs in carrying out their parliamentary functions.

4. IPSA is independent of Parliament and the Government. This allows us to take decisions about the rules on business costs and expenses and on MPs’ pay ourselves, without interference.

5. The Scheme of MPs' Business Costs and Expenses ('the Scheme') governs what MPs can and cannot claim for. We review our rules regularly and consult the public when we do so.

6. 99.7% of claims made by MPs in 2017/18 were compliant with the Scheme.

7. Every two months we publish around 25,000 claims for costs and expenses by MPs and their staff. Once a year we publish aggregate data for MPs’ spending and other aspects of their activity

The next publication on 12 September 2019 will include the final claims up to the end of March 2019, when we will publish all remaining claims from the previous expenses system. The first publication of claims submitted on IPSA Online, the new claims system launched in April, will be on 14 November 2019 and will include Annual Publication and claims made from April to July 2019 via IPSA Online. This date is subject to change if Parliament is in recess.

9. Today IPSA has answered a Freedom of Information request about materials from a pooled services assurance review, including the European Research Group. Details can be found here.