Another ruling on Commons expenses
In yet another case the has today again overruled the House of Commons on the disclosure of MPs' expenses.
This case concerns spending by seven Welsh MPs on 'circulars and reports to their constituents'. The Commissioner has decided that this information should be revealed following an FOI request.
The Commissioner's ruling is not yet on his website, but is notable for a couple of points. He rejected the Commons assertion that the House did not 'strictly speaking' actually hold the information at issue. The ruling states: 'The fact that the information requested in this case is held by the House in various documents does not mean that the information requested is not held.'
And he also dismissed the House's argument that it did not have to release the material because it did not necessarily provide an accurate or full breakdown. On this the ruling states; 'the House would have been able to address its concerns about the context, completeness and potentially inaccurate nature of the information it holds by providing the complainant with an appropriate explanation of what it holds.'
It remains to be seen whether the Commons will comply or appeal. MPs have got a lot to think about on their expenses system, and this decision adds one more item to that agenda.
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If Member receive the £125 daily allowance please note this will be NET - if anyone else had an allowance of £125 daily we would actually need to earn an additional £68,437 per year... then again on second thought that CHEAPER than what they are claiming ow so maybe it is worth it...
OH! Remind me; MP's volunteer for the job don't they? When I sign up for mine, I knew what the salary was and DEDUCTD from my salary is my travelling, my food, my house expenses etc; therefore why are theirs in ADDITION to????