A breakdown of all expenses claimed, breakdown of Communications Allowance used, gifts received and address of second home for Sion Simon MP

Dear Mr Sambrook,

Thank you for your email dated 29 March 2009 and received today, 30
March 2009.

We shall deal with your request promptly and let you have a response by
29 April 2009.

If you have any queries about your request, please contact me.

Mandy Kelly
Freedom of Information Assistant

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Dear Mr Sambrook,

Thank you for your request for information which is copied below.

In response to your questions:

1) A total breakdown of all expenses claimed by Sion Simon MP since his
election to office in 2001

The detailed information about expenses claimed by Members up to 2004/05
is not held by the House of Commons. The headline figures for years
2001/02 to 2003/04 are attached.

The headline figures of all Members' allowance expenditure for years
2004/05 to 2007/08 are available on
http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/h...

Detailed information about Members' expenses for years 2004/05 to
2007/08 is being prepared for publication . In addition, similar
information relating to 2008/09 is also held with the intention that it
should be made available to the public generally. Therefore the
information you have requested is exempt by virtue of the exemption set
out in section 22 (1) of the FOI Act (information held with the
intention of future publication) and your request is refused.

The material covered by your request is part of a data set of around
700,000 pages of information. We are currently in the process of
providing the information to be published to Members so that they can
review their own data, for example in relation to accuracy, security and
privacy. We plan to make the information relating to 2004/05 to 2007/08
available to the public generally by mid July 2009. We plan to make
information relating to 2008/09 available in the autumn of 2009.

While there is a public interest in providing access to information
relating to Members such as that covered by your request, this interest
is being met by the planned publication of information about all
Members, thus providing a full picture of expenditure against the
allowances, but which also takes account of legitimate security and
privacy concerns of MPs and third parties. Therefore, the balance of the
public interest rests with maintaining the exemption while this
information is being prepared and finalised for publication.

2) A total breakdown of all gifts received by Sion Simon MP since his
election to office in 2001

The extent to which the House of Commons holds information about any
gifts received by Members can be viewed on the Register of Members'
Interests:
http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/r...
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3) A total breakdown of what Sion Simon MP has spent his Communications
Allowance on since its introduction

Please see answer to question 1.

4) The address for the property which Sion Simon MP claims 'Second Home
Allowance' (if the address can not be given, the constituency in which
it is located would be satisfactory)

Information that relates to the residential addresses of MPs is not
subject to FOI and therefore the House of Commons is not obliged to
disclose it. For further information about the application of the
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to information of this nature please
refer to the linked document:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uks...

You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the
House of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision.
Requests for internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of
Information Officer, Department of Resources, House of Commons London
SW1 OAA or [House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the
nature of your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to
make.

If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information
Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Bob Castle
Head of Information Rights and Information Security
House of Commons

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