All receipts submitted in 2013-14 by Valerie Vaz MP, David Winnick MP and Richard Sheppard MP

IPSA holds the information that you request.

We publish details of all claims made by MPs under the MPs’ Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses (‘the Scheme’) on our publication website.

Under the Scheme, MPs must provide documentation in support of each claim for business costs and expenses.

As such, please find attached (using the links below) copies of all documentation provided by the three MPs requested, in support of claims made in the 2013-14 financial year. (NOTE: the receipts are contained within .zip folders. You will need to download free extraction software, such as WinZip, in order to view the receipts):

• Valerie Vaz

• David Winnick

• Richard Shepherd

We have withheld a small amount of information from the receipts and invoices under the following exemptions.

Information such as personal bank details, which if disclosed could put MPs or their property at risk, has been withheld under Section 31(1)(a) (Law enforcement) of the FOI Act. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention (or detection) or crime. After considering the nature of the withheld information it is our opinion that were a disclosure to be made into the public domain it is probable that this information could be traced back to sensitive personal or commercial information which could be used for criminal activity. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of information relating to MPs’ expenses there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that we are able to protect our service users from the threat of being subjected to criminal activity. In our opinion the public interest in protecting the security of MPs’ and their property outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.                                                                       

Some information, if disclosed, could affect the personal safety of the MPs, and has been withheld under section 38(1)(b) (Health and safety) of the FOI Act. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, endanger the safety of any individual. After considering the nature of the withheld information it is our opinion that were a disclosure to be made into the public domain it is likely that this information could be used to endanger the safety of the individuals who rely upon these locations for accommodation. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of this information there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that as an organisation we are able to protect our service users from threats to their safety. In our opinion the public interest in protecting the personal safety of MPs’ outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

We have withheld a small amount of personal data under section 40(2) of the FOIA. Section 40(2) provides that personal information about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. For further information, you may wish to visit the UK Legislation website.