Responses to parliamentary questions

During the course of parliament, MPs will ask questions about our function, costs, and policies.

The written responses to these questions can be found by following the links below.

Question to SCIPSA: 11 March 2026 – what was the sickness absence rate, total number of days lost to sickness absence and number of days lost to sickness absence per head for MPs' staff in each of the last three years

Question to SCIPSA: 11 March 2026 – what was the median and mean full-time equivalent salary for each staff job title in 2024-25 for MPs' staff outside and inside London

Question to SCIPSA: 11 March 2026 – pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2026 to question 117392 on staff, what is the full-time equivalent median salary and full-time equivalent mean salary for MPs' staff

Question to SCIPSA: 5 March 2026 – on what dates and in what form have IPSA asked MPs to provide information about the volume of casework being undertaken by their offices and any other such data referred to at the SCIPSA oral evidence session on 4 March 2026

Question to SCIPSA: 5 March 2026 – whether the transcript of the meeting titled 'Staffing budget drop in - session 1' held on Monday 23 February 2026 will be placed in the library

Question to SCIPSA: 5 March 2026 – with reference to page 68 of IPSA's Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, whether any IPSA activity necessitated formal employee consultation during 2024-25 or 2025-26 to date

Question to SCIPSA: 5 March 2026 – with reference to page 68 of IPSA's Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, whether IPSA recognises the PCS trade union for collective bargaining purposes

Question to SCIPSA: 3 March 2026 – what the median salary, mean salary, turnover rate, mean length of service, median length of service and salary increase for 2026-27 is for IPSA employees and MPs' staff

Question to SCIPSA: 3 March 2026 – whether IPSA has undertaken research on the potential link between average headcount per office, average salaries for staff and constituency populations, constituency deprivation levels, social housing waiting lists, MPs' additional parliamentary responsibilities and other constituency demographic information

Question to SCIPSA: 3 March 2026 – whether there is any different funding provided by IPSA to MPs representing constituencies with populations below 30,000 and above 130,000

Question to SCIPSA: 3 March 2026 – how IPSA assesses how many staff are required to meet workload demands on MPs' offices and how is this scrutinised by the Committee

Question to SCIPSA: 3 March 2026 – whether the Speaker's Committee has the power to withhold approval of IPSA main estimates and business plans, and what assessment the Speaker's Committee has made of the potential impact of an IPSA main estimate not being approved on IPSA, MPs and MPs' staff

Question to SCIPSA: 9 September 2025 – what recent assessment was made of levels of public confidence in the administration of MPs' business costs since the General Election

Question to SCIPSA: 22 July 2025 – what proportion of the IPSA preferred suppliers list for MPs’ office purchases are UK-based manufacturers

Question to SCIPSA: 21 July 2025 – whether topping up statutory parental bereavement leave payment with occupational pay up to a staff member’s full pay for two weeks includes bereavement leave for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks

Question to SCIPSA: 16 July 2025 – what estimate has been made of potential savings to the public purse as a result of the Scheme in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years to date

Question for SCIPSA: 7 July 2025 – whether a breakdown of the number of FOI requests received from individuals and organisations in 2024 and 2025 will be published

Question for SCIPSA: 25 March 2025 – pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2025 to question 38862, whether an estimate was made of the potential savings to the public purse of abolishing diversity, equality and inclusion roles

Question for SCIPSA: 17 March 2025 – whether an estimate was made of the potential savings to the public purse of abolishing diversity, equality and inclusion roles

Question for SCIPSA: 11 February 2025 – what assessment has been made of the adequacy of time taken and cost to administer claims made to IPSA by MPs' offices

Question for SCIPSA: 11 February 2025 – whether an assessment will be made of the potential merits of asking the National Audit Office to undertake a value-for-money review

Question for SCIPSA: 10 February 2025 – what recent discussions were had with IPSA on its definition of an MP's parliamentary duties

Question for SCIPSA: 4 February 2025 – whether an assessment will be made of the potential merits of increasing staff salary pay scales so parliamentary advisors can be paid the same as MPs

Question for SCIPSA: 3 February 2025 – what assessment the Committee has made of the effectiveness of the technology platform used to process and administer MPs' business costs

Question for SCIPSA: 24 January 2025 – whether an assessment will be made of the adequacy of the transparency of governance arrangements for IPSA

Question for SCIPSA: 23 January 2025 – what the percentage increases were for MP's staffing budgets and IPSA staffing expenditure between financial years 2018-19 and 2024-25

Question for SCIPSA: 21 January 2025 – what proportion of employee work-time was spent working from home and an IPSA office location in 2023-24

Question for SCIPSA: 21 January 2025 – whether IPSA plans to implement efficiency savings to reduce operating costs to the levels of 2018-19

Question for SCIPSA: 12 December 2024 – how many employee settlement agreements there were in IPSA in each year since 2020 and what the total value was

Question for SCIPSA: 12 December 2024 – whether the Committee will assess the potential merits of commissioning an independent review of IPSA's operational effectiveness and value for money

Question for SCIPSA: 12 December 2024 – whether the Committee will make a comparative assessment of the value for money provided by IPSA and the pre-2010 system for reimbursing MPs' staffing and business costs

Question for SCIPSA: 21 March 2024 – details of any assessment of the effectiveness of the handling of MPs' business costs claims by IPSA

Question for SCIPSA: 8 November 2023 – details of the number of public and private meetings held by SCIPSA in the previous four years

Question for SCIPSA: 16 October 2023 – number of employed IPSA staff, and the proportion of whom work in the IPSA office regularly

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 3 February – publication of the findings of the March 2020 Hays recruitment report on comparable job roles and salaries

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 3 February – meetings with representative bodies before the announcement of staffing budgets

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 3 February – dates of scheduled IPSA Board meetings

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 3 February – when staffing budget proposals for 2023-24 were presented to the board

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 26 October (2) – consideration given to moving IPSA office outside of Central London

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 26 October (1) – attendance of staff at London office

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 2 September 2022

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – consultants, 21 July 2022

Question for SCIPSA: Written questions, 11 July 2022

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – buildings and staff, 23 May 2022

Question for SCIPSA: Members' staff – pay, 15 September 2021

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – buildings, 22 March 2021

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – staff, 22 March 2021

Question for SCIPSA: Members' staff – voluntary work, 18 January 2021

Question for SCIPSA: Members' staff – allowances, 18 January 2021

Question for SCIPSA: Members' staff – voluntary work, 12 January 2021

Question for SCIPSA: Members' staff – voluntary work, 12 January 2021

Question for SCIPSA: Members' staff – voluntary work, 30 December 2020

Question for SCIPSA: Members – staff, 10 December 2020

Question for SCIPSA: Coronavirus – IPSA telephone lines, answered 19 May 2020

Question for SCIPSA: Salaries of IPSA permanent staff, 6 February 2020

Question for SCIPSA: Members – allowances, 30 January 2020

Question for SCIPSA: Members – pay, 30 January 2020

Question for Cabinet Office: Ministers – harassment, 4 November 2019

Question for Women and Equalities: Members – maternity leave, 30 September 2019

Question for SCIPSA: Members – travel, 30 September 2019

Question for House of Commons Commission: Prorogation – costs, 30 September 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – costs of IPSA Online, 10 July 2019 (UIN 273316)

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – costs of IPSA Online, 10 July 2019 (UIN 272731)

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – answering queries, 25 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: Members – allowances, 20 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – working hours, 20 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: Members – email, 20 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – offices, 20 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – location, 20 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – benefits of IPSA Online, 13 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – buildings, 5 June 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – costs of IPSA Online, 20 May 2019

Question for SCIPSA: IPSA – buildings, 20 May 2019

Question for SCIPSA: Members – allowances, 7 May 2019 Question for SCIPSA: Members – finance, 14 March 2019

Question for SCIPSA: Parental leave, 11 October 2018

Question for SCIPSA: Members' constituency work, 28 March 2018