Updated:
23 January 2009
The
government had been proposing to rush through an amendment to the Freedom of
Information Act to exclude information about MPs' and Peers'
expenses from the Act's scope. However, it has been forced to
withdraw the proposal - at least for now.
The
proposal, contained in the draft Freedom of Information (Parliament)
Order
2009,
was
announced
by the Leader of of the House, Harriet Harman MP, on
Thursday
15
January 2009. It was due to be voted on in the Commons
and the Lords only a week later, on 22 January. If approved,
it would
have become law the following day. Had
the proposed Order
been approved:
- Information
about MPs’ and Peers’ annual expenditure,
broken down by subheading, would be published each year
as part of Parliament’s publication scheme.
- But
information about all individual items of expenditure
would have been secret and outside the scope of the FOI
Act altogether.
In
2008 the Information Tribunal ruled that such detailed
information could not be withheld under the Act. The House
of Commons appealed against that decision to the High Court
and lost.
Last
year, a private member’s bill to remove both Houses of
Parliament from the FOI Act altogether was approved by the
House of Commons but fell when no peer was willing to introduce
it in the House of Lords.You can read more about that bill here.
The
latest proposal has now been withdrawn - though the government
has not ruled out the possibility of a future attempt to
restrict access. The
about-turn occurred after the the Conservatives announced
that they would join the Liberal Democrats in opposing
the measure.
The government maintain that the Conservatives had previously
agreed to support it - the Conservatives deny this.
The
House of Commons has approved the remaining elements of the package,
which in themselves are welcome. The Commons' publication scheme
will be improved so that the annual publication of information
about MPs' expenses will be broken down into 26 categories instead
of the existing 13, providing some additional detail about expenditure.
New independent auditing of MPs' expenses will be introduced
and the rules on what expenses MPs are permitted to claim will
be clarified.
Crucially,
the government has now confirmed that the disputed information will be
published. Detailed information will be provided about all MPs'
expenses claims between 2004 and 2008 including scanned copies
of the individual receipts. There will be some delay before these
are ready to be disclosed, as each receipt is being examined
individually to identify and remove any personal information
whose disclosure is not required (eg spending on other
purchases for which the MP has not sought reimbursement).
However,
Harriet Harman, refused to rule out
a future attempt to restrict access. The High Court had said
the individual receipts had to be disclosed partly because of
the serious shortcomings
in the existing system of expenses. The improvements now being
introduced, such as independent auditing of
MPs' claims,
might change the position and allow detailed information about future expenses
to be withheld, she suggested. She added that it might
nevertheless be decided to carry on disclosing them even if they
believed they were not required to do so. The Campaign has no
doubt that they should do so.
Before
the measure was withdrawn, the Campaign had encouraged
people to write to their MPs asking them to vote against the
Freedom of Information (Parliament) Order and sign Early Day
Motion (EDM) 492 sponsored by Jo Swinson MP opposing the Order.
Although the Order has been withdrawn, it is still worth asking
your MP to sign the EDM. You can write to your MP via the WritetoThem website.
An up-to-date list of MPs who have signed the motion is available here.
The
detailed expenses of all public officials, across the whole public
sector, are
publicly available on request
under
the
FOI Act. The Campaign believes it deeply
inappropriate - and damaging to Parliament’s
reputation - that MPs should seek such
special protection from a measure which
they have deemed should apply to everyone else.
On
this page you can read:
What
the Campaign said about the proposal
Press
coverage
What
others said about the proposal
Parliamentary
debates and publications
Links
to the proposed Order
Please
let us know if you come across any other comment that should
be added to this page.
What
the Campaign has said
Press
comment
- MPs'
expenses: Hidden benefits, Sunday Times 25/1/09
- MPs'
expenes: Receipts could still be kept secret, Telegraph 23/1/09
- MPs'
expenses: 'Brown and his MPs should be ashamed', Scotsman 23/1/09
- Details
of MPs' expenses could still be exempted from FoI Act, Guardian
22/1/09
- FOI
request will still be required for full disclosure of MPs'
expenses,
Scotsman 22/1/09
- U-turn
over MPs' expenses secrecy, Independent 21/1/09
- Brown
ditches MPs expenses plan, FT 21/1/09
- Parties
fight over MPs' expenses, Sky News 21/1/09
- MPs'
expenses: A sensible decision, Guardian 21/1/09
- Gordon
Brown withdraws plan to keep details of MPs' expenses
secret,
Guardian 21/1/09
- Labour
MPs in expenses details row, Telegraph 21/1/09
- Tory
frontbench and Lib Dems fight move to hide MPs' expenses, Guardian 21/9/09
- Gordon
Brown backs move to block full publication of MPs' expenses,
The Times 21/9/09
- MPs
fiddle while the banks burn, FT 20/1/09
- MPs
can strike a blow for freedom, Letters, Guardian 20/1/09
- Protests
grow over MP expense bid, BBC News 20/1/09
- Harman
must explain expenses plan , Public Service 19/1/09
- 'MPs
should be stripped of expenses', Mirror 19/1/09
- MPs
face internet backlash as they fight to keep expenses secret, Guardian
19/1/09
- What
have sneaky MPs got to hide?, Mirror 17/1/09
- A
poor excuse for MPs to keep their expenses secret, Editorial,
Telegraph 17/1/09
- Expenses
spared, Editorial, The Guardian 17/1/09
- Taxpayers
foot £1m bill for publication of expenses but
MPs STILL want to cover them up, Daily Mail 16/1/09
- 'Arrogant'
MPs in new dodge to keep details of expenses secret,
Daily Mail 16/1/09
- MPs
in expenses receipt fiddle, The Sun 16/1/09
- A
good day to bury bad news on MPs' expenses, The Independent
16/1/09
- Nothing
to declare, David Hencke, commentisfree, The Guardian
16/1/09
- Ministers
face anger over plan to exempt MPs' expenses from freedom
of information act, The Guardian 16/1/09
- MPs
to be let off FoI, politics.co.uk 16/1/09
- MPs
accused of keeping expenses secret, Telegraph 16/1/09
- MPs
defy the judges to keep 'John Lewis' expenses list secret,
The Times 16/1/09
- MPs'
cash claims kept in the dark, Mirror 16/1/09
- FoI
campaigners condemn MPs' bid to hide expenses, Press
Gazette 15/1/09
- MPs'
detailed expenses to stay secret, FT 15/1/09
- MPs'
expenses: Ciao, Silvio, Sky News 15/1/09
- Freedom
of information takes a battering, The Guardian 15/1/09
Regional
press
- 'MPs
must be accountable' - Cheltenham MP , Gloucester Citizen 24/1/09
- Southport
MP John Pugh welcomes move to reveal details of MPs' expenses, Southport
Visiter 23/1/09
- MP
and rival welcome expenses ruling, Eastbourne Today 22/1/09
- MP
pleased at expenses U-turn, Luton Today 22/1/09
- MPs'
expenses: all will be revealed , Oldham Chronicle 22/1/09
- MPs'
stand on expenses,
South Wales Evening Post 22/1/09
- Wrexham
MP backs clearer expenses, News Wales 22/1/09
- MPs
hit out at plans to hide expenses, Gloucester Citizen 20/1/09
- Outrage
over UK Government attempt to block release of AMs' expenses, Western Mail 19/1/09
- Assembly
leads the way over expenses claims , Western Mail 19/1/09
- MP
expenses vote not backed by Labour's Gwyn Prosser, This is Kent 19/1/09
- Wyatt
leads backlash over MPs' expenses block, Kent Messenger 19/1/09
- Row
continues over MPs expenses, Nottingham Evening Post 19/1/09
- Exeter
MP in expenses call ,
Express & Echo 19/1/09
- MP
considers publishing expenses , Halesowen News 17/1/09
- MPs
angry over expenses move , Leicester Mercury 17/1/09
- MPs'
expenses - let's have no hiding place ,
Leicester Mercury 17/1/09
- MPs'
expenses move dubbed 'disappointing', Herald Express 17/1/09
- MP
urges full expenses publication, Watford Observer
16/1/09
- PM
backs Harman on expenses, Evening Standard 16/1/09
- Anger
at bid to deny access to MPs' expenses , Bournemouth Echo 16/1/09
- 'Fury'
over MPs' expenses move , Metro 16/1/09
- Make
MPs reveal expense claim details ,
peers urged, Evening Standard 16/1/09
- Bid
to maintain secrect on MPs' expenses branded 'disgraceful',
Yorkshire Post 16/1/09
What
others have said
Parliamentary
debates and publications
Text
of the Order
|
