Since the 2010 General Election all MPs expenses have been regulated by the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
Publication of MPs detailed expenses is every two months and Andrew’s expenses can be searched at http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk/ (follow the instructions on the site to download the expenses).
Should this raise further questions then please contact Andrew and he will be happy to discuss this with you.
Parliament provides every MP with a budget to pay for staff, a constituency office as well as postage and office equipment costs. The total costs for running my Parliamentary and constituency offices in 2015/16 were £157,000. Of that, £138,000 went on staff costs. This is to pay the salaries of my staff to help me with my constituency casework, type letters, book surgery appointments, answer telephones etc. My staff work extremely hard and I want to pay them well for the work they do within the limits set by Parliament. No family members or ‘connected parties‘ work for me.
My office costs were just under £19,000 in 2015/16. This was to pay the rent of the constituency office, postage on the thousands of letters I send each year, and pay for the costs of computer equipment and telephone bills in my constituency office.
I do not claim the accommodation allowance which I’m entitled to, of £22,000 a year. That allowance also allows MPs to claim travel costs within the constituency and to Westminster and back. Instead I have claimed the London Area Living Payment (LALP) of £3,700 a year. In recent years, I have not claimed any constituency travel costs.