ICO The complainant submitted a request to the House of Commons (HoC) for copies of all expense claims submitted by Irene Adams, former MP for Paisley North. The HoC explained to the complainant that it only held records for the financial years 2004/05 and 2005/06. The HoC referred the complainant to its website where some of the information he had requested was available. The HoC refused to disclose any further detailed information about the MP’s expenses as to do so would breach the data protection principles and was therefore exempt from disclosure under section 40 of the Act. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the HoC provided the complainant with further detailed information falling within the scope of the request, including copies of the original claim forms submitted by the MP. Also during the course of the Commissioner’s investigation a statutory instrument (SI) came into effect which removed the HoC from the Act with regard to information relating to MPs’ addresses and regular travel undertaken by MPs. As a consequence of this SI, the Commissioner has concluded that the HoC is no longer a public authority for certain classes of information which are held by the HoC and which fall within the scope of this request. The Commissioner has also concluded that the HoC does not hold any further recorded information falling within the scope of this request that does not fall within the classes of information set out in the SI.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 1 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 – Complaint Upheld
[2009] UKICO FS50173086
Bailii
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.531933