Dear Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority,

The current IPSA website holds a great deal of information that can be accessed by individual, specific requests, but it does not 'sort' data in any meaningful way. It would be useful to be able to have the facility to compare data, for example to find out which MPs claim the most on expenses, how an individual MP's expenses compare from one year to the next, which MP spends the most on stationery etc.

League tables, if you like, similar to those which MPs have legislated for in schools and hospitals.

1. Can you tell me if IPSA has, at any time, discussed the introduction of sort facilities for the data - in the interests of openness and transparency. If so have these proposals been costed and if they were refused, who lobbied for them and who refused them.

2. Does IPSA have any plans to introduce scanned copies of original receipts claimed by MPs as it was instructed to do by the courts? If not, why not? Has IPSA had discussions where it has been considered that the current system of simply releasing numbers leaves it open to corruption?

3. After being instructed by the High Court *and* the Court of Appeal to release original, redacted if necessary, expenses documents submitted by MPs, does IPSA plan to fight the release of each original document on a case by case basis, incurring further legal costs and lengthening the process or has it now capitulated to the law in letter *and* spirit.

4. Legal fees for the above procedings approached £190,000. Can IPSA tell me which body or individual footed this legal bill for them?

Yours faithfully,

Jennifer James